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THE BAPTISM OF CHRIST. 



SKETCHES 



JEWISH LIFE 



FIRST CENTURY 



MODEMS ; or, Scenes in the Days of Our Lord 
GAMALIEL ; or, Scenes in the Times of Saint Paul 



JAMES STRONG, S.T.D., LL.D. 

Professor of Exegetical Theology in Drew Theological Seminary 

JUN 8 1891 

^SHINGTON 




NEW YORK: HUNT &> EA TON 

CINCINNA TI : CRANSTON &= STOWE 

1891. 



,0° 






Copyright, 1891. by 
HUNT & EATON, 

New York. 



PREFATORY NOTE. 



The two narratives comprised in this vol- 
ume are not necessarily connected with one 
another, but the latter is substantially a sequel 
to the former, and they therefore properly go 
together. A few explanations may be allowed 
concerning each, which will be found in their 
Introductions. 



NICODEMUS; 



SCENES IN THE DAYS OF OUR LORD. 



INTRODUCTION. 



TN every land and age the aid of romance has been fieely in- 
voked in order to add vividness to the reproduction of events 
far distant in time and space. Why should piety be debarred 
from the same privilege ? I am aware of the prejudice against 
the employment of fiction in religious literature, and I am 
frank to confess that the liberty has often been greatly abused. 
Nevertheless the world's verdict is now more than' ever, if I 
mistake not, that this form of composition has not only a 
charm but a value, and this for the old as well as for the 
young. I am not an advocate of novel-reading, especially 
not of the perusal of the trash with which the modern pi-ess so 
largely teems ; but I cannot ignore the fact that the human 
mind, the sober in common with the gay, most eagerly craves, 
and most readily digests, the narrative form of information, not 
simply for present entertainment, but also for permanent in- 
struction ; and where the details are lost from the record they 
must be supplied by the imagination either of the reader or 
the writer, in order to give completeness and distinctness to 
the view. The picture may be substantially correct, though 
the shading be somewhat fanciful, provided the outline be 
from history and the colors from nature. A sketch, of course, 
cannot pretend to the minuteness of a photograph, but it may, 
notwithstanding, convey an accurate idea of the subject. 
The prevailing vice of fictitious writing is that it aims at start- 
ling and extraordinary impression, and too often is regardless 
of probability or even possibility. Absolute verity is not 
always attainable, but verisimilitude is. In the present 
undertaking, fortunately for me, at least, intricacy of plot, 



1 IN TROD UC TION. 

abrupt surprises, absorbing adventures, and all similar con- 
trivances for creating and sustaining intense interest, would 
have been out of place, because inconsistent both with truth- 
fulness and with good taste. Mine is the less ambitious — I 
might, perhaps, say the less meretricious — task of setting in a 
fresh but not altogether novel aspect a well-known character of 
sacred story, whose position is sufficiently central to afford me 
an opportunity to weave around him the principal features of 
the first era of Christianity, and yet is not so amply delineated 
in actual records as to preclude the introduction of imaginary 
particulars. 

The only authentic facts known concerning Nicodemus are 
contained in the three passages of the gospel by John, where 
alone he is mentioned ; but the statements there made respect- 
ing him are eminently characteristic and suggestive. There 
are a few obscure notices in the Talmud of an individual who 
is supposed to be the same person ; but these give us little if 
any additional information beyond the fact of his eventual re- 
duction from affluence to extreme destitution. My real hero, 
however, is a far more illustrious Personage ; but him I have 
dared merely to depict in side-views and by reflected light. 
Inspiration has drawn his only perfect portrait. All that I 
can hope here to accomplish will be to concentrate attention 
upon the salient features of that delineation, and thus bring 
them into bolder relief. I may at least illustrate the effect 
which the principles newly propounded by the great Teacher 
produced on his hearers, and especially on an honest but pre- 
occupied inquirer. 



NICODEMUS; 

OR, 

SCENES IN THE DAYS OF OUR LORD. 



" T T AST thou heard last night's news, 

J- A Sarah ? " said a bright young man as 
his sister entered the room where he had al- 
ready finished his simple morning meal. 

" Nay, Obed," she replied, calmly. " What 
is it?" 

"They say," rejoined he, "that a party of 
shepherds, encamped in the plain east of the 
village, had a vision of angels singing over- 
head, and telling them to search for a child in 
a manger as the new-born Messiah ? " 

"Did they find the babe?" inquired she, 
with interest. 

" I believe they did," he answered, with in- 
difference ; and then he added, " But it was in 
the stable of the khan ; and it is not likely 
that the Messiah will be revealed to such 



12 SKETCHES OF JEWISH LIFE. 

poor people and under such mean circum- 
stances." 

" I am not so sure of that," mildly returned 
the sister ; " thou knowest David was once but 
a simple shepherd-boy, and Jehovah often 
deigned to show himself to very humble per- 
sons ; for instance, to Manoah and his wife in 
the field. Besides, dost thou not remember 
that Isaiah describes the Messiah as a root out 
of dry ground? " 

" What dost thou know about the interpre- 
tation of such difficult passages as that?" 
scornfully retorted the brother. "All our rab- 
-bins agree that we are to take the brilliant 
prophecies of a conquering king for the true 
description of Jehovah's Anointed." 

" True," replied she ; " but we know that 
the famous royal warrior David was a weak 
babe at first ; and when a lad he was so un- 
promising in appearance that his father did 
not think it worth while to call him in with 
his brothers before Samuel at the selection for 
anointing." 

" What a convenient way you women have 
of deciding an argument ! " he said, doggedly ; 
" the cases are not at all the same." 



NICODEMUS. 13 

" Perhaps not altogether," said she ; " but 
now I think I know the family in which this 
remarkably heralded babe has been born. It 
must be that young woman's child whom I 
saw her aged husband so tenderly bringing 
upon an ass into town a few days ago ; for I 
remember they could not find accommodation 
in the khan itself, but had to take lodging in 
the stable. I was greatly struck at the time 
with her sweet face and gentle manner." 

" Girls like thee," he only deigned to re- 
spond, " are always carried away with sympa- 
thy for a baby." 

" I think I know a girl," she archly retorted, 
" who has independence enough for thee." 

He blushed, but merely said, " I am glad 

there is one that redeems the weakness of the 

>> 
sex. 

She concluded the conversation by adding, 
" I took the trouble to inquire about that 
family, and found that they are of loyal line- 
age, though now living in Nazareth." 

This little- colloquy, which strikes the key- 
note of the controversy destined to spread 
from Judea through the world, is supposed to 
have taken place in Bethlehem at the time of 



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NICODEMUS. 15 

the advent of our Lord. The parties are na- 
tives of that place, in easy circumstances, the 
one betrothed to Nicodemus, a rising youth 
of Jerusalem, the other in love with Rachel, 
the sister of Joseph, a wealthy resident of 
Arimathea. The Emperor Augustus, having 
conceived an affront at some of King Herod's 
arbitrary proceedings, had resolved to make 
him feel his subjection ; and accordingly or- 
dered that the census, now going on through- 
out the Roman Empire as a basis of taxation, 
should be extended to Palestine likewise, which 
had hitherto enjoyed a nominal independence. 
In the East, of course, such registrations pro- 
ceed by pedigree, and Bethlehem was just 
now crowded with the numerous descendants 
of the Davidic family, among them Joseph, 
of necessity, and Mary for the sake of her 
husband's company and protection. It was 
late in summer, and the parched and dusty 
plains adjoining the town were dotted with 
the black tents of some shepherds who had 
wandered from their homes in search of the 
pasture, at that season still to be found in 
some of the rich glens of the neighborhood. 
As they lay guarding their flocks in the open 



16 SKETCHES OF JEWISH LIFE. 

field the starlit air became vocal with a celes- 
tial strain : 

" To God be glory given 

By angels high in heaven; 

On earth be peace proclaimed — 
Good-will to man redeemed ! " 

Forty days thereafter a tiny procession 
might have been seen slowly wending its way 
from the northern gate of the little city of 
Bethlehem, passing the well whence David is 
said to have longed to slake his thirst at the 
risk of the lives of his braves, thence winding 
along the brow of the hills terraced with gar- 
dens, along the central ridge of the country, 
past the tomb of Rachel, across the plain of 
the Rephaim, down into the gorge of Kinnom, 
up the valley of the Kidron, and ascending to 
the eastern wall of Jerusalem. The youthful 
mother is seated upon the docile beast that 
serves universally for female travel in the 
Orient, and the venerable father walks beside 
her, with one hand guiding the animal and 
supporting his wife as she holds her first-born 
in her arms, and in the other carrying the 
birds intended as a sacrifice. A few friends 
perhaps, attend, and possibly some interested 



IS SKETCHES OF JEWISH LIFE. 

spectators follow. They enter the gate Shu- 
shan ; she dismounts in the outer or Gentiles' 
court of the temple ; and the little family 
climb the steps, pass through the Beautiful 
Gate into the women's court, and take their 
position in the corner room allotted to the 
purificatory ceremony. A priest is sum- 
moned, and the simple rite is performed which 
acknowledged Jehovah's claim to the male 
first-fruit of every marriage. A few among 
the cluster that have gathered about the par- 
ents recognize a far higher significance on the 
present occasion. The aged Simeon takes the 
precious Babe in his trembling arms and in 
ominous words pronounces his dying benedic- 
tion upon both child and mother. The saintly 
Anna joins in the glad homage with others 
whom prophecy had taught to expect the 
Saviour at this time. Two of the by-standers, 
we fancy, are Xicodemus and Sarah, locked 
hand in hand, as they gaze with surprised 
seriousness upon the adoration offered by the 
two pious pilgrims to the infantile new-comer. 
The struggling convictions and confused emo- 
tions of that hour did not find mature ex- 
pression till many a day thereafter of " fall 



NICODEMUS. 10 

and rising again in Israel." The maternal 
heart alone instinctively comprehended the 
scene, albeit in the fond gladness of the mo- 
ment it scarce felt a premonition of the wound 
which at length pierced its inmost core. How 
many an exquisite joy and pang the faithful 
bosom hides in its urn of memory ! 

We pass over a year or more in the history, 
and witness far more striking scenes in Jeru- 
salem and Bethlehem. A band of magians, 
of whom tradition presumes to give the num- 
ber, name, and nationality, appear as pilgrims 
in the Jewish capital, inquiring for its new- 
born King. They have observed some astro- 
nomical phenomenon in the far east, which 
they interpret as betokening such a royal 
birth. Probably they have descried the rays 
of prophecy streaming eastward from the 
days of Balaam, and they hasten, from what- 
ever motive, to enroll themselves as satellites 
of the new star of empire. The quick ear of 
the jealous Herod starts at the thought of a 
rival to the throne, and the whole city trem- 
bles with apprehension of some fresh atrocity 
of suppression. He has already murdered 
nearly all his relatives on suspicion of trea- 



20 SKETCHES OE JEWISH LIFE. 

son, and at this moment his two most noble 
sons are lying in prison awaiting only permis- 
sion from Rome for their execution. On 
whom will his blind fury next alight ? But he 
vaguely remembers that this great Unknown, 
whom the populace are acclaiming through 
the streets, is the subject of prophecy, and he 
condescends to seek information through its 
official expositor, a body which he has often 
browbeaten before. He summons the Sanhe- 
drim, and demands to know where their Mes- 
siah is to appear. They promptly answer that 
the Scriptures clearly point to Bethlehem as 
the birthplace of that illustrious Personage. 
The city breathes more freely as the dogs of 
vengeance are turned on a different scent. In 
order not to strike at random Herod at once 
calls the magians, gives them the clew, and 
charges them to return with an exact account 
of the whereabouts of the new heir, pretend- 
ing that he is as anxious as they to show him 
proper respect. He will use them as tools to 
divert the popular expectation and circum- 
vent destiny itself. Guided by a return of the 
preternatural light, they soon discover the In- 
fant's abode, which the parents had taken 



NICODEIJUS. 21 

after their return from Nazareth ; * and they 
offer him royal homage in words and gifts. A 
dream warns them not to return to Herod, 
and they go home by a different route. A few 
days' delay suffices to convince the tyrant that 
he has been balked in his scheme, and with 
characteristic blood-thirstiness and energy he 
resolves upon an indiscriminate massacre 
which shall be sure to include his intended 
victim. The Slaughter of the Innocents has 
been made the subject of many a painting by 
great artists, but none of them can adequately 
portray the horrors of the original scene. 
However coolly and deliberately planned, it 
must have been executed suddenly and vio- 
lently. Peremptorily, perhaps at the dead 
hour of midnight, every house was simulta- 
neously invaded. No notice was given, so 
that none might escape. Not even the silent 
but foretold passing of the destroying angel 
over the Egyptian homes presented so tragic 
a spectacle. What bursting in of private 
dwellings and inner apartments by the ruth- 
less soldiery ! What resistance of frightened 
servants and shrieks of frantic women and 
* Luke says that they went thither direct from Jerusalem. 



22 SKETCHES OF JEWISH LIFE. 

battles of fierce men ! What parrying of mur- 
derous blows by the defenseless hands of 
mothers and by the determined weapons of 
fathers ! What wails of the dying and curses 
of the living ! What snatching of infants by 
nurses, parents, and assailants ! What hurried 
flights and rapid pursuits ! And at last what 
dumb grief or frenzied sobs over the little 
mangled corpses ! A whole city mourning in 
wild agony over its rifled darlings ! Imagina- 
tion itself sickens and reels at the attempt to 
realize the shocking details. No wonder that 
the Jewish historian of the time has covered 
the ghastly scene with the pall of silence, 
while the more faithful sacred chronicler has 
given but a glimpse of its heart-rending terrors. 

Obed and Sarah, let us suppose, were spared 
this nightmare vision, having opportunely ac- 
cepted an invitation at the time to visit their 
friends at Arimathea. Their varied emotions, 
reviews, and remarks upon the event when 
it was reported to them next morning will 
give a good idea of the difference of opinion 
and feeling then prevalent among the better 
class of Jews on public and religious topics. 

Obed and Rachel thought that the account 



NICODEMUS. 23 

which they first received must be greatly exag- 
gerated ; and when the full particulars arrived 
they still looked upon the occurrence as only 
another of Herod's well-known bursts of spleen 
against the common people. They did not see, 
indeed, what other course he could have safely 
pursued in order to guard his throne and suc- 
cession effectually from the constant upstart 
tendency of popular superstition. After all, it 
was only a few children put out of the way, 
and they were glad the matter was no worse. 
At any rate, the affair was now ended, and it 
was of no use to trouble themselves farther 
about it. Luckily, none of their immediate 
relatives had suffered. 

Joseph and Sarah, on the contrary, were un- 
able to look so indifferently upon the transac- 
tion. To them it was a monstrous barbarity, 
a selfish piece of high-handed tyranny, an out- 
rage upon every law of God and man. They 
sighed as they contrasted such brutal scenes 
with the happy freedom of their forefathers, 
and they longed more than ever for the coming 
of the Prince of Peace. Had it been a case of 
Roman oppression both sides would doubtless 
have united in denouncing the foreign bond- 



24 SKETCHES OF JEWISH LIFE. 

age ; but as it was the direct act of a native 
sovereign they could not avail themselves of 
this convenient method of solving their national 
troubles. Neither party thought of the one 
Child on whose account the butchery had been 
enacted, nor inquired whether he had escaped 
the dreadful carnage. The heavenly Father's 
eye alone was upon his dearly beloved, and the 
earthly parents were warned in time to screen 
their precious charge from danger. 

When the excitement was over the Bethle- 
hemite brother and sister returned to their 
home and to their usual routine of affairs, leav- 
ing Joseph to pursue his public labors of benev- 
olence and Rachel to continue her round of 
coquetry which had been somewhat checked by 
her lover's presence. But the desolate hearth- 
stones were still the seats of inconsolable 
anguish, and, feeling uncomfortable through 
sympathy for their neighbors' woes, Obed 
went on a mercantile excursion to the Syrian 
shore, while Sarah accompanied Nicodemus on 
a winter trip up the Nile. 

As they diverged one day to visit the ancient 
city of Heliopolis Sarah saw a little group sitting 
beneath a noble sycamore-fig by the roadside, 



NICODEMUS. 25 

and at once recognized the pilgrims of Bethle- 
hem in the now more matronly face which 
bent over a beautiful boy, while the watchful 
father still attended near, and some relatives, 
at whose abode in the vicinity they had found 
hospitality, gazed in fond satisfaction upon the 
holy family. After a moment of rapt admira- 
tion Sarah could not resist the womanly im- 
pulse to speak a kindly word of praise and to 
imprint a tender kiss upon the innocent lips. 
Fairer than the sons of men shone that dimpled 
but already expressive face. A divine light un- 
consciously passed from those eyes of dove-like 
softness to the inmost soul of the susceptible 
beholder, and the artless maiden bore away 
from that instant's contact with the immaculate 
Babe the blessing of a " love better than wine." 
It was the appreciation of the pure and the 
noble, the apprehension of the heavenly and 
the godlike ; and this remembrance sweetened 
all her after experience with the perfume of a 
holy aspiration. Nicodemus himself was not 
unaffected by the touching interview; but his 
sympathy was merely human, and it needed a 
more searching and manly intercourse to reach 
the closely guarded fountain of his inner life. 



26 SKETCHES OF JEWISH LIFE. 

'Still, the impression of that brief sight remained 
as a seed slumbering in the soil, and under the 
power of a stronger ray from the Sun of right- 
eousness in his meridian splendor it was des- 
tined to burst its earthly shackles and emerge, 
though late, into full vegetation. No one ever 
came within the immediate range of the God- 
man's personal influence without being either 
the better or the worse for it ; and none can now 
live under the light and sound of the Gospel to 
whom it does not prove either a savor of life or 
of death. The drawings of the Spirit, in what- 
ever form, if encouraged will surely lead the 
heart to a celestial conformity; but if resisted 
they will repel it to impenitent obstinacy. 
What a double mercy it is that mortals have 
repeated overtures of grace made to them, and 
are not left to a single offer of salvation ! 

Again we find a blank, this time of ten years, 
in the sacred narrative, which we partly fill 
with secular and domestic incidents. Herod 
soon after died of a frightful disease which was 
regarded by all as a special visitation of Prov- 
idence. The elder of his two surviving sons 
succeeded for a brief time to his dominions, 
and they were then partitioned among his re- 



NICODEMUS. 27 

maining heirs, his last son receiving Galilee, 
while Judea reverted as a Roman province 
under direct military government. 

Meanwhile the holy family had returned to 
their original seat at Nazareth and were appar- 
ently absorbed in mechanical industry. Our 
new acquaintances have prospered in their plans 
and arrangements and are now settled in their 
respective homes, Obed and Rachel at Bethle- 
hem, and Nicodemus and Sarah at Jerusalem. 
Joseph is likewise established in the latter 
city, with a country villa at Arimathea, where 
the three families often pass a few months of 
the year together. The political and religious 
tides seem to flow quietly, with only a ripple 
of occasional outbreak or extortion to disturb 
the public surface or the private margin. The 
storms are held until the vials of retribution 
overflow with the great national sin of the 
Messiah's truculent rejection. The seventy 
heptads have not yet reached their appropriate 
terminus. 

" I saw a remarkably precocious boy last 
week," said Nicodemus, as the three house- 
holds gathered on one of the above-mentioned 
occasions, after the annual visit to the Passover. 



NICODEMUS. 29 

"Who and where was he?" inquired they 
all. 

" He came alone and unbidden into the 
school-room attached to the temple," replied 
Nicodemus, " and he seemed to spend his 
whole time there during the paschal festivities." 

" He must have been a bold youth," re- 
marked Obed. 

44 Nay," rejoined Nicodemus, " he did not 
seem unduly forward ; but he certainly asked 
the most singular questions, for a child, at 
least, that I ever heard. The teachers were 
of course present in full force, and the pupils 
among whom he ranged himself were very 
numerous. I had to sit still, for I confess I 
could not answer his inquiries. They were 
very much to the point, however. Both Hillel 
and Shammai, the aged doctors well known for 
their opposite sentiments to each other, were 
evidently puzzled by the rejoinders which he 
made to their solutions of his difficulties. Ga- 
maliel, 1 thought, was the only rabbi who in 
any satisfactory degree met the points that he 
raised. Yet the objections which the youth 
made were not sophistical nor abstruse, but 
eminently practical and devout." 



30 SKETCHES OF JEWISH LIFE. 

" Pray, who was he ? " inquired Sarah. 

" I could not learn,'' answered her husband, 
" for no one seemed to be acquainted with him, 
and he did not speak of himself at all. He 
constantly quoted the Scriptures, however, 
with such exactness and pertinence as showed 
he had been carefully instructed." 

" Quite a prodigy, it would seem," remarked 
Rachel. " I dare say he had learned by rote a 
string of the casuistical knots which many of 
our learned men are fond of tying in the law 
and the prophets." 

" Please give us a specimen of his questions 
or problems," said Joseph. " They will doubt- 
less be entertaining, and they may prove in- 
structive." 

"For example," replied Nicodemus, "the 
class were reciting the One hundred and tenth 
Psalm, and at the very first verse, 

" 'Jehovah said to my Lord, 

Sit at my right hand, 

Till I make thine enemies thy footstool,' 

the lad modestly inquired who was the author 
of the psalm. ' David, of course,' replied the 
presiding officer, ' as the very title of the psalm 
shows.' The youth then asked again, 'And 



NICODEMUS. SI 

whom does he mean by "my Lord " there?' 
4 Doubtless the Messiah,' was the reply. Again 
the boy asked, ' And in the parallel passage of 
the first [now the second] psalm, 

' ' Jehovah has said to me, 
My Son art thou," 

who is the person referred to ? ' ' No doubt 
the Messiah there likewise,' was once more the 
reply. ' But how,' rejoined the lad, could Da- 
vid call him both his son and his Lord ?' The 
inquiry was so fair and so apt that the teachers 
could not decline to meet it ; but it seemed 
to me that they made miserable work in ex- 
pounding the sense. Some explained it one 
way and some another; but the by-standers 
chuckled at the confusion of the whole bench 
of doctors. I do earnestly wish," continued 
Nicodemus, " that a more solid and natural 
method of interpretation prevailed among our 
scholars." 

" Ah," said Joseph, " the Messiah himself 
will soon come, and he will explain every 
thing." 

"Amen," responded Sarah, "may he come 
quickly ! " 



32 SKETCHES OF JEWISH LIFE. 

Once more a gap of eighteen years occurs in 
our narrative, and the characters and events 
rapidly mature. Nicodemus is now an ac- 
knowledged authority on religious questions, 
and Joseph a pillar of the State. Obed is a 
successful man of the world, and their house- 
holds are among the most respectable in the 
communities where they dwell. Offices, both 
imperial and provincial, have changed hands, 
but have only degenerated in reputation and 
functions. One of the vilest debauchees 
hitherto known occupies the throne at Rome, 
and a coarse venal soldier is his highest repre- 
sentative in Judea. Public and private morals 
are at a confessedly low ebb every-where, and 
in Jerusalem they stand in fearful contrast with 
the Mosaic law. Suddenly a weird reformer 
emerges from the deserts east of the city and 
invites all penitents to wash away their sins in 
the Jordan as a preparation for the immediate 
coming of the Messiah. The whole air of the 
man and of his message strikes the popular 
fancy, and it immediately becomes fashionable 
for saint and sinner to enroll themselves among 
his followers. His pilgrim dress and diet, and 
his thorough earnestness and sincerity, make a 



24 SKETCHES OF JEWISH LIFE. 

profound impression upon the whole vicinity, 
and soldiers as well as civilians are treated by 
him with the same impartial strain of exhorta- 
tion. A woe is impending over the land for 
its sins, and the Messiah is the only refuge 
from ruin. Even the Pharisees and synagogue 
teachers become concerned at the popular com- 
motion, and after cautiously sounding his pre- 
tentions they conclude to float with the tide 
which they cannot stem. As the Baptist does 
not seem to be ambitious, perhaps they may 
lead, or at least take advantage of, the relig- 
ious movement, since he requires such simple 
terms of membership in what he is pleased 
to style " the kingdom of heaven," But he 
sarcastically rejects them as knaves, and it is 
soon evident that they must fight the new 
society, although they will proceed gently at 
first, since it is so strong. At all events the 
Sanhedrim and the ecclesiastics generally will 
keep aloof from the popular enthusiasm and 
watch from a safe distance their opportunity 
to crush it. 

The three related families of whose affairs 
we have kept a brief record cannot fail to be 
observant of the signs of the times, but their 



NICODEMUS. 35 

comments and prognostications continue to be 
as discordant as ever. Obed and Rachel de- 
clare the Baptist to be an impostor, or at best 
a mere enthusiast, and they avow their convic- 
tion that the rabble whom he congregates will 
soon dissipate of itself, like many other tem- 
porary excitements. "For," say they, "it 
evidently has no fundamental principle or plan 
of concerted action, no bond of union or or- 
ganization. So long as it does not interfere 
with the government it is harmless enough ; 
but doubtless, like all preceding popular move- 
ments, it will soon come into collision with the 
Roman power, and then its day will be over. 
We shall have another terrible scene of carnage 
and execution." Nicodemus, Joseph, and 
Sarah, however, think that its deep religious 
fervor, combined with its unobtrusive course, 
will lead to permanent good ; especially as it 
only aims to be a scaffolding upon which the 
Messiah is to erect his empire. When he ap- 
pears doubtless there will be stirring times. 
They only hope and pray that the means and 
measures under the administration to be ush- 
ered in may be as calm and pacific as those 
already inaugurated. They see no signs of war, 



36 SKE TCHES OF JE WISH LIFE. 

and are resolved to judge fairly and to act pru- 
dently. For the present they will not commit 
themselves openly to the new enterprise, al- 
though they are favorably inclined toward it. 
The whole nation, in fact, is in suspense, and 
they need be in no haste to declare themselves 
decidedly. They are not much affected by the 
vague reports of the sudden appearance of a 
singular young man to whom the Baptist 
seemed to pay unusual deference as he en- 
rolled himself by the prescribed rite among 
his followers, nor by the rumors that this new- 
comer is himself gathering disciples, and even 
professes to be able to work miracles, a thing 
which his precursor has never attempted. They 
presume this is but a piece of imitation and 
improvement. 

A few months subsequently, however, on 
the occasion of the paschal ceremonies at Je- 
rusalem, an incident occurred which aroused 
general attention. A stranger, accompanied 
only by half a dozen followers, entered the 
outer court of the temple, and summarily ex- 
pelled all the hucksters and money-brokers 
from its precincts, claiming, in enigmatical lan- 
guage, to have some sort of jurisdiction over 



NICODEMUS. 87 

the premises. And then he supported this 
high-handed procedure by several undoubted 
miracles publicly wrought by him during the 
day. This rendered him exceedingly popular, 
notwithstanding his mysterious movements. 
Nicodemus resolved to ascertain for himself 
something definite about the new Teacher's 
origin and purposes ; and in this determination 
he was warmly seconded by Sarah, but as ear- 
nestly opposed by the other members of his 
family. He therefore thought it prudent to 
seek a private interview with the remarkable 
stranger; and, having ascertained his lodgings, 
he visited him in the evening, when all parties 
were at leisure, and when he was in no danger 
of being observed by his jealous colleagues of 
the Sanhedrim. We will give his own account 
of the conversation as related to his wife on 
his return : 

" I began," said Nicodemus, " by addressing 
him courteously with the title of Rabbi, and 
assuring him that his miracles had convinced 
me of his divine mission. But he stopped me 
short, as I was about to make some inquiries 
concerning himself and his principles, by tell- 
ing me that the members of his fraternity must 



38 SKETCHES OF JEWISH LIFE. 

be * born over again.' * I was puzzled to know 
the exact meaning of this phrase, especially its 
application to a well-established religious char- 
acter like myself; and I frankly expressed my 
difficulty. He explained that he did not mean 
a physical, but a spiritual regeneration, and 
that water baptism is but its symbol. Of 
course I am familiar with this process of pros- 
elyte initiation, but I could not perceive its 
pertinence or necessity under the present cir- 
cumstances, as we are all native Jews. He 
rather sharply reproved me for my dullness of 
comprehension as a professed public teacher, 
adding that if I were unwilling to accept this 
his first and simplest lesson I could hardly 
expect to be inducted into his deeper myste- 
ries. Nevertheless he proceeded to deliver a 
most extraordinary lecture, apparently con- 
cerning himself and his errand, under the two- 
fold title of ' the Son of man' and ' the Son of 

* I need here only remark that however much more than 
this may have been, and doubtless was, included in our Lord's 
significant avutiev, "again" (literally, from above), yet the 
reply of Nicodemus, and the explanation of Jesus, both make 
it clear that the idea of a re-birth was the predominant, if not 
the sole, one which Nicodemus received from it. With this, 
or involved in it, to a Jewish mind, of course would.be the 
ceremonial relations which such a change must involve. 



NICODEMUS. 39 

God/ I gathered these thoughts as the sub- 
stance of his doctrine: That men are in danger 
of eternal ruin as a consequence of their sins ; 
that the love of God has provided a rescue from 
this fate ; and that faith in the present Teacher 
himself is the one condition of this salvation." 

" Is not that all plain enough ? " said Sarah, 
whose less sophisticated understanding and 
more chastened spirit drank in the truth with a 
delighted yearning. " It seems to me," she 
continued, " that if we can secure Jehovah's 
favor on these simple terms we can afford to 
accept the character of him who makes them 
known without questioning its mystery. I am 
sure they are far more reasonable than the tedi- 
ous round of services required by the priests, 
and especially the endless quibbles raised by 
the lawyers about their due performance." 

Nicodemus did not answer. Professional 
pride and long prejudice could not at once re- 
linquish their hold, but he forebore to disturb 
the rest which Sarah's child-like heart found 
on the bosom of the divine compassion. She 
had long and deeply felt the weary burden of 
her sins — soul-guilt, which the sacrifices could 
not reach, which the Levitical law did not even 



40 SKETCHES OF JEWISH LIFE. 

name, and which the decalogue only implied 
without pointing out a remedy ; and she now 
saw in the simple trust in the forgiving mercy 
of Jehovah, as she understood the new Teacher 
to expound it, an avenue of deliverance, clear, 
full, and instant. She gladly entered this way 
of wisdom, and at once it proved to her a 
" path of peace." 

As time moved on the excitement at Jeru- 
salem about the new Teacher subsided. It 
was only said that he had taken the Baptist's 
place on the Jordan, the latter having removed 
his operations to a point higher up the river, 
and subsequently being imprisoned by the 
King of Galilee for some act of rudeness on his 
part. Reports, it is true, occasionally reached 
Judea concerning the wide-spread activity of 
the new Teacher in the northern part of the 
country, especially his travels and discourses 
and miracles on the Lake of Gennesaret ; but 
our friends at the Jewish capital were too much 
engrossed in their own affairs to give much 
heed to these distant matters. 

Obed's visit to Tyre many years ago had led 
to the formation of mercantile connections 
there which had meanwhile become so ex- 



42 SKE TCIIES OF JE WISH LIFE. 

tended as to warrant the establishment of a 
warehouse at the new port of Cesarea. The 
import duties were thus transferred to the 
jurisdiction of the procurator of Judea, and 
trouble had now arisen there from the extor- 
tion of the Roman officials appointed by the 
corrupt Pilate. Similar irregularities were 
likewise practiced at the old port of Joppa, 
within the same procuratorship, and the mer- 
chants of both places deputed Obed to visit 
Rome and lay their grievances before the im- 
perial tribunal. He had, accordingly, taken 
passage the preceding autumn in a coasting 
vessel to Alexandria, and there been trans- 
shipped into a larger merchantman bound with 
a cargo of wheat for Rome. But the vessel 
had been delayed by stopping at intermediate 
ports, and on setting out from Crete was 
caught in one of the Levanters frequent dur- 
ing the winter months on the Mediterranean, 
driven into the Syrtis Major on the African 
coast, and there wrecked. It was supposed 
that all on board had perished, except a few 
who had floated ashore on a fragment of the 
ship ; and as Obed was not among these his 
family, after waiting in anxious suspense for 



NICODEMUS. 43 

tidings from him after his departure, were now 
plunged into inconsolable grief, when at length 
the facts reached them by land-post from Nu- 
midia. Rachel was seized with paroxysms of 
delirium, and the kind-hearted Joseph, as being 
the nearest of kin, was now charged with the 
double burden of her rising family and of 
his brother-in-law's extensive business. Meas- 
ures were taken to settle the estate, but here 
again the corrupt officials made increased delay 
and expense. 

The home of Nicodemus also was visited 
with affliction, but of a somewhat different 
character. The Egyptian friends whose hos- 
pitality he had enjoyed long before when pass- 
ing up the Nile had now, after many invita- 
tions, repaid the visit during the summer 
months, when Egypt is unhealthful and un- 
pleasant from the inundation of the river. 
But Jerusalem they found scarcely more salu- 
brious at that season, and when autumn ar- 
rived they were so infected with the Syrian 
fever that they were unable to return home. 
The ample mansion of Joseph, conveniently 
and pleasantly located between the metropolis 
and the sea-shore, was therefore thrown open 



44 SKETCHES OF JEWISH LIFE. 

as a hospital for the invalids of both fami- 
lies, and many were the tender reunions expe- 
rienced under its roof during the winter that 
ensued. Sarah, although herself deeply affected 
by the loss of her brother, vibrated like an an- 
gel of comfort between the three domestic 
establishments ; and many a gentle word of 
spiritual cheer did she pour into the ear cf the 
distracted Rachel, as well as minister to the 
sick from Egypt, unconsciously suggested by 
the evening's interview of her husband with 
the unknown Teacher. 

When the Passover festivities again recurred 
the several families were measurably composed 
in their separate homes, and Nicodemus once 
more had the joy of his wife's exclusive com- 
pany at Jerusalem. She hoped that the Gali- 
lean would again revisit the city, and that 
some further opportunity would be afforded of 
learning his views on many points which she 
had often revolved in her mind, but of which 
the reserve of Oriental females forbade her 
seeking a public solution. She had, therefore, 
to depend upon her husband for information, 
and he could only report what he casually 
gathered in the street or learned from his fel- 



NICODEMUS. 45 

lows of the hierarchy who were more on the 
alert than himself in watching heretics. One 
day he told her that the Teacher, whose name 
he learned was Jesus, had instantly cured a 
case of palsy of thirty-eight years' continu- 
ance, at the pool near the sheep-gate, although 
it was the Sabbath-day ; and a few days later 
he ascertained that he had publicly defended 
the propriety of this act on grounds of such 
authority in himself as to provoke the mur- 
derous fury of the Pharisees. The Teacher, 
therefore, had probably left the place. They 
afterward heard of his increasingly renewed 
labors in Galilee ; .but for a year and a half he 
was lost to their immediate knowledge. 

Meantime Obed suddenly returned one day 
to his enraptured family. He had a long story 
to tell of his adventures. He was one of a 
little party of passengers who had secretly low- 
ered the skiff from the lee-side of the ship 
during the gale, and, after being tossed about 
and almost famished for days, had partly drifted 
and partly rowed to the nearest coast of Sicily, 
where they were kindly entertained by the 
natives and forwarded to Syracuse. There he 
made himself sufficiently known to Jewish 



46 SKETCHES OE JEWISH LIFE. 

merchants to obtain means of returning home. 
He would have prosecuted his embassy to 
Rome, but, having lost his documents, he 
would have appeared unaccredited before the 
emperor. He found his own mercantile affairs 
in a very confused state ; for, although Joseph 
was competent, judicious, and faithful, he had 
been proceeding upon the plan of winding up 
the business ; and the procurator, who had 
somehow got wind of Obed's errand to Rome, 
managed to throw every legal impediment in 
his way. Obed found it necessary to retreat 
to Tyre, out of Pilate's jurisdiction, with the 
wrecks of his property. There he felt safe, 
for Herod was out of humor with the Roman 
procurator, and would not care to molest a 
private citizen in order to gratify him. Rachel 
and the children, of course, accompanied him, 
and thus one of the family ties of Sarah was 
impaired by distance. This only served to 
make her cherish still more warmly in her 
bosom the germ of the glad tidings which the 
Galilean Teacher had implanted in her heart 
through her husband's report. Ah, how many 
since have found the whole Gospel epitomized 
in that single verse, " For God so loved the 






NICODEMUS. 47 

world that he gave his only begotten Son, that 
whosoever believeth in him should not perish, 
but have everlasting life ! " 

The succeeding Passover, as already inti- 
mated, was not attended by Jesus of Naza- 
reth — such was the designation by which the 
new Teacher was now familiarly known 
throughout the country. He came, however, 
to the Feast of Tabernacles, but not at its be- 
ginning, lest he should unnecessarily expose 
himself to the hostility of the hierarchy. His 
appearance was the signal for the renewal of 
a double controversy, of which he was the 
center. The populace were, divided in their 
opinion, the majority appealing to his miracles 
as proof of his philanthropy and Messiahship, 
and others decrying him as an impostor. These 
latter were evidently emissaries of the Phari- 
saic party, who were, nevertheless, amazed at 
the skill in teaching of one so little trained as 
he in the schools. Jesus publicly defended 
himself from their various aspersions till the 
Sanhedrim, exasperated to find that he was 
still gaining ground with the people, ordered 
his arrest. But the officers sent for that pur- 
pose were themselves disarmed by his elo- 



48 SKETCHES OF JEWISH LIFE. 

quence, and a novel scene took place on their 
return empty-handed. " You are cowards and 
traitors ! " shouted some of the council. " Is 
it possible," said the Pharisaic members, " that 
any one, except the cursed, ignorant rabble, 
has faith in him ? " Nicodemus himself, net- 
tled and alarmed at the insinuation, ventured 
to remark that the accused had a legal right to 
be heard before being condemned. But he 
was silenced with the retort, " So thou hast 
turned advocate for a Galilean prophet ! " 
The meeting broke up in disorder, and Jesus 
continued his debate in the temple until his 
opponents at last took up stones to meet his 
arguments. 

4 ' What did he say for himself?" eagerly 
asked Sarah, as her husband recounted these 
incidents in the evening. 

Nicodemus replied : 

44 He calmly answered their vituperations by 
asserting his divine origin and character, and 
he challenged them to test his claims by 
Scripture and by fact." 

44 Could any thing be more fair than that?" 
returned she. ' 4 But what didst thou under- 
stand him to mean by his divinity?" 



NICODEMUS. 49 

" It was evidently not merely official, but 
personal," rejoined her husband ; " yet I could 
not exactly make it out." 

A few days afterward Nicodemus told his 
wife that Jesus had publicly cured a man born 
blind, and that the hierarchy had excommuni- 
cated the poor fellow for boldly defending his 
Benefactor. 

" Did any thing further transpire concern- 
ing the Teacher's own nature ? " inquired she ; 
for she felt that on this central point was piv- 
oted his whole work and doctrine. 

" Nothing," replied her husband, " except 
that, in a beautiful allegory of a sheep-fold, he 
re-affirmed that God was his Father." 

About three months later Nicodemus was 
better able to satisfy his wife's curiosity by re- 
porting that the hierarchy had pointedly ques- 
tioned Jesus as to his Messiahship while he 
was teaching in Solomon's Portico at the Fes- 
tival of Dedication, and that he had explic- 
itly avowed his unity and equality with God. 

" How did that strike thee ? " asked she. 

" His enemies tried to stone him for blas- 
phemy," returned Nicodemus, " but he escaped 

and has evaded their efforts to arrest him by 
4 



SO SKETCHES OF JEWISH LIFE. 

retreating to the scene of his former opera- 
tions on the Jordan. The man is a riddle to 
me still," he continued ; " and I must await 
the issue of his career before I decide as to his 
character." 

Sarah did not press her husband to resolve 
his intellectual doubts, but her woman's heart 
reposed in serene confidence upon the Teach- 
er's truthfulness, and half-divined the secret 
of his double selfhood. There were other fe- 
male disciples of Jesus whose perplexities were 
far less than those of the favored twelve ; and 
there was one whose maternal love was an an- 
tidote for all tormenting fear. From the mo- 
ment of the annunciation she had learned that 
there may be a blending of the divine and the 
human which the very subject of it may not 
attempt to analyze ; and believers since have 
ever felt a union which they cannot see. In- 
carnation is a mystery in the creature ; how 
much more in the Creator ! But duplexity is 
not in itself a contradiction, although the ele- 
ments be variant as mind from matter or as 
both from God. The infinite may involve, 
without absorbing, the finite, as it has evolved 
it without eliminating aught from itself. The 



NICODEMUS. 51 

philosopher, no less than the Christian, must 
accept many facts and formulas which he does 
not fully comprehend. 

It is now high time that we return to the 
fortunes of the family whom we left upon the 
borders of Israel. Obed's affairs had not pros- 
pered as he anticipated since his removal to 
Tyre. The native merchants were rather 
jealous of him as a comparative foreigner and 
competitor, and as the trade of the place was 
itself much more limited than in former times 
there was little opportunity for a new-comer 
to secure it. In the dullness of business he 
had leisure for other pursuits, to which he 
had not given close attention hitherto, but 
which his subdued experience of late inclined 
him to investigate. He became especially in- 
terested in the affairs of his neighbors of Gali- 
lee, at first through the exchange of commodi- 
ties, the native products of corn and oil being 
exported from Tyre, and the price returned in 
manufactures and articles of luxury brought 
from all parts of the world. Gradually he 
learned to listen with attention to the reports 
of the marvelous deeds of the new Teacher 
from Nazareth, and insensibly his worldly 



52 SKETCHES OF JEWISH LIFE. 

mind began to sympathize with the brilliant 
prospects of temporal power and personal 
preferment which the many merely outward 
partisans of the now famous Personage saw in 
his future. Obed himself was not so sordid as 
to wish to follow Jesus merely for the few 
loaves and fishes which he at present distrib- 
uted, nor merely for the relief from bodily 
ailments which he so freely extended ; but he 
fancied that he discovered in the growing 
popularity, and still more in the remarkable 
supernatural endowments, of the young Naza- 
rene the prestige and the power which, if 
rightly employed, might aggrandize all his re- 
tainers. These hopes, however, were suddenly 
dashed by the act of the Teacher himself, who 
on one occasion abruptly quitted a company 
on the lake that were intent on proclaiming 
him king ; and when they still pursued him to 
the synagogue of Capernaum he delivered to 
them a severe lecture on the folly of earthly 
ambition, which effectually convinced them 
that they had mistaken their man. Still, 
Obed's interest had been drawn to Jesus, and 
his early prejudices arising from the obscure 
origin of the prophet had been overcome ; he 



NICODEMUS. 53 

was now satisfied that the new Teacher was 
neither insignificant nor uninfluential, and his 
mind was open to conviction as to his ultimate 
aim and destiny. Rachel, too, in the facility 
with which an affectionate wife falls into her 
kind husband's way of thinking, began to have 
respect for Jesus, and could no longer shut her 
eyes nor close her heart against the obvious 
beneficence of his pre-eminent character. 
Neither of them had yet seen him nor felt 
that subtle power which all confessed ema- 
nated from his person, through every act and 
word and look. A little incident presently oc- 
curred in their immediate neighborhood which 
brought them into close contact with his life 
and teaching and gave a clear insight into his 
spirit and character. 

One of the favorite domestics in Obed's 
family was a poor widow, who, being a native, 
and therefore a Gentile, occupied a little apart- 
ment in an adjoining building with her insane 
daughter, and earned support for them both 
by giving what time she could spare from the 
invalid to the care of the linen and bedding of 
the merchant's household. The maniac child 
was an object of pity to all the neighbors, for 



54 SKE TCHES OF JE WISH LIFE. 

in her paroxysms, which were often of a pe- 
culiarly nervous character, she would some- 
times endanger her own life and the safety of 
the house itself by her strange freaks, not only 
tearing her clothing and hair, but even casting 
herself into the water or the fire if she got an 
opportunity. Her contortions and shrieks 
were fearful, and in her spasms she personated 
a foul demon, with which she fancied she was 
possessed ; nor was the notion wholly one of 
Oriental superstition, for she acted as if really 
under some such spell. The afflicted mother 
had tried every remedy known to Gentile or 
Jewish practice— medicine, exorcism, and what 
not ; but all in vain. The disease, if such it 
could be called, only increased with the growth 
of the child, and the mother herself was almost 
distracted about it. One day she heard that 
the great Galilean Teacher, whose fame for 
miracle-working had reached every corner and 
hamlet and individual of that whole region, 
was in the vicinity ; and in her desperation, 
heathen, and unacquainted with him as she was, 
she begged permission of Rachel to test his 
skill and power in the case. She learned in 
the city that he was the guest at a villa near 



56 SKETCHES OF JEWISH LIFE. 

the so-called tomb of Hiram, on the brow of 
the hill overlooking the ruins of old Tyre, and, 
running the whole way, she reaches the outer 
line of the multitude who pressed to hear him 
in spite of his efforts at privacy. With all her 
remaining breath she cried, " O, sir, thou de- 
scendant of David, the friend of Hiram, help 
a poor Gentile, and cure my demoniac daugh- 
ter ! " But he still continued his teaching, ap- 
parently not hearing or not noticing her. She 
repeated her request still more loudly, not- 
withstanding the reproof of the by-standers for 
her vociferation, until the Teacher's attendants 
begged him to bid her begone as an intruder 
and disturber. He merely said, " My errand 
personally is with Israelites alone ; " but his 
tone was gentle, though the words were se- 
vere ; and the forlorn woman, gathering cour- 
age from her woe, crowded through the throng 
and cast herself at his feet with the entreaty, 
" O, sir, do help me! " 

He looked upon her, and there was com- 
passion in his eye, albeit again his reply was 
discouraging: " Gentile dogs may not eat the 
children's food." 

But she would not be repelled; she knew 



NICODEMUS. 57 

he could restore her daughter, and she felt 
that he was not altogether unwilling. With 
the ingenuity of want and the ingenuousness 
of humility, she pleaded, " True, sir, I deserve 
nothing: but dogs may catch the crumbs 
beneath the children's table." 

He had tested, and he now rewarded, her 
importunate earnestness. " Great is thy faith, 
stranger that thou art ; be it to thee accord- 
ingly/' was his gracious reply ; and it carried 
to her consciousness the assurance of its own 
verification. She hastened home and found 
her daughter well. Jesus soon departed from 
the neighborhood, and not long after he finally 
quitted Galilee. 

His exile from Jerusalem was barely long 
enough to allow the heat of controversy to 
slacken ; he was recalled by an incident which 
revived it with redoubled fury. His abode 
during his annual visits to the Jewish metrop- 
olis had been with a humble family at Beth- 
any, just across the Mount of Olives, consist- 
ing of two unmarried sisters, the elder named 
Martha and the younger Mary, who kept 
house for their brother Lazarus. As Jesus 
was teaching near the Jordan he received an 



58 SKETCHES OF JEWISH LIFE. 

urgent message to come immediately to Beth- 
any, for Lazarus was suddenly taken very ill. 
He did not go, however, till two days after- 
ward, although aware that his friend had died 
meanwhile, his design being to effect a still 
greater miracle than his cure. Accordingly, he 
assuaged the grief of the sisters by raising 
their brother to life after he had lain several 
days in the grave. The hierarchy were so 
provoked by the popularity produced by the 
resurrection of Lazarus that they were anxious 
to kill him also ; and Jesus deemed it prudent 
again to withdraw from the vicinity. He re- 
turned, however, in order to celebrate the 
coming Passover, and once more took up his 
abode with his friends at Bethany. Nicode- 
mus and Joseph were likewise at the festival, 
and what may be regarded as an impartial ac- 
count of the events of the week following may 
be found in the letters which Sarah wrote on 
the spot to her sister-in-law at Tyre. 

" Jerusalem, i ith Nisan. 
" My Dear Rachel : Our city is likely 
soon to be the scene of some decisive public 
collision between the Galilean Teacher and 



60 SKETCHES OF JEWISH LIFE. 

the Pharisaical authorities here. This morn- 
ing he came into the temple, attended by 
his twelve special disciples, and accompanied 
by a crowd of villagers and towns-people, 
who shouted as the procession passed down 
the slope of Olivet and across the Kidron, 
hailing him as the coming King of David's 
line. It is true they were altogether common 
sort of folks, and largely children; but their 
enthusiasm was unbounded. It dreadfully an- 
noyed the hierarchy, who tried to stop their 
applause, but in vain. He was seated on their 
coats thrown over the back of an ass, with her 
foal by her side, and palm-branches had been 
strown along the road as in a triumphal pro- 
cession. I confess, as I looked out of the east 
balcony window of our house on Ophel, it was 
a pretty and rather imposing sight. The 
Teacher himself, however, looked sad, and I 
thought I saw tears in his eyes. O, it was a 
sweet, melancholy face, full of manly dignity 
and womanly tenderness. Somehow it strange- 
ly reminded me of the Babe of Bethlehem 
many years ago. It looked the very image 
of that gentle pensive mother's ; the same 
blond complexion, so unusual in our coun- 



NICODEMUS. 61 

trymen ; and the hair parted in the same 
way in the middle of the forehead, and 
hanging in ringlets over the shoulders. My 
husband says that as soon as Jesus came in- 
side the Gentiles' court he turned out all the 
traffickers, as he did three years ago, and that 
he spent the day in the temple teaching and 
working various cures, returning at night to 
his friends' cottage at Bethany. They think 
the world of him, and made him quite a sup- 
per a few evenings since. I do not wonder, 
for it certainly was a most remarkable thing, 
his raising the brother from the dead. The 
whole city is full of the report, and the Phari- 
sees are more exasperated than ever. O, dear, 
I hope they will not harm him, he is so kind 
and noble! But I think he is abundantly able 
to take care of himself, even without the aid 
of the common people, who are devoted to 
him. He is remarkably self-possessed and 
judicious, although decided enough in rebuk- 
ing sin, and stern especially toward the crafty 
Pharisees. And then, he must have infinite 
resources in his miraculous gifts, although I be- 
lieve he has been never known to use them for 
his own benefit. As my husband says, he is cer- 



62 SKETCHES OF JEWISH LIFE. 

tainly a unique person. If such a thing were 
possible that Jehovah should come down in 
human form, as he did when the angels visited 
Abraham, I should think he must seem just 
such a being. Didst thou ever think about 
that singular prediction in Isaiah, where the 
Messiah is called God with us ? I have of 
late been reading the Scriptures more carefully 
than ever before, especially with a view to 
solving the mystery about this new Teacher. 
He seems to me to fulfill the promises and de- 
scriptions more perfectly than any one else I 
can think of, although in a way somewhat 
different from what I have been educated to 
expect. I know thou art looking for a tem- 
poral ruler and an earthly conqueror; but, 
dear sister, I have begun to suspect that his 
kingdom may be purely spiritual, and his realm 
his followers' hearts. This may be only a 
woman's notion, and my husband is ready to 
laugh me out of it ; but I cannot think that 
we as a nation or as individuals would gain 
any thing by getting into a war with the Ro- 
mans or with our neighbors, as this popular 
idea of the Messiah implies. What I want 
most of all is rest from sin and peace of mind ; 



NICODEMUS. 63 

and these I get more in the repose of this 
Galilean's blessed look and his soothing words, 
so far as I have had them repeated to me, than 
in any thing else. 

" I shall watch the progress of matters here 
very closely, and keep thee informed of all I 
can learn. I hope thou wilt be interested 
likewise, and that even my brother will not be 
unconcerned. Thine, affectionately, 

" Sarah." 

" 13th Nlsan. 
" Yesterday was quiet here in Jerusalem. 
Jesus of Nazareth visited the city and taught 
in the temple as before ; but there was no 
popular demonstration, and therefore no spe- 
cial opposition by his enemies. It is said only 
that on his way early to the city, not having 
had any breakfast, he went a little out of the 
direct path from Bethany, expecting to get 
some early figs on a tree of unusual forward- 
ness for the season, but found it had expended 
its strength in leaves only. Those who passed 
by it since find that it has entirely withered 
to the very roots. I presume this is one of his 
miracle lessons, but what it means I cannot 



64 SKETCHES OF JEWISH LIFE. 

divine, unless to teach that profession is worth- 
less without practice. Perhaps it is a sly- 
thrust at the Pharisees, who boast loudly of 
piety, but have very little genuine fruit. 

" To-day the Teacher was very busy in the 
temple lecturing and curing, especially in the 
women's court, where I had myself the curiosity 
to observe him. I cannot tell thee how delighted 
I was. There was a poor widow who dropped a 
few trifling coins into the contribution-box, and 
he beautifully said that she had given propor- 
tionately more than all the ostentatious weal- 
thy ones. Some Gentiles called him into the 
outer court for an interview, and as I was near 
that side I heard him say some very ominous 
things about a grain of wheat decaying in the 
ground before it can bear fruit, and about his 
being lifted up from the earth. He seems to 
be very despondent about himself, and I am 
afraid that mischief is brewing against him. I 
noticed that the Pharisees caviled at his re- 
marks in a very coarse way. But he paid all 
parties back with interest when they flocked 
about him to puzzle him with their hard 
points. First, the Herodianscame to him with 
the standing dispute about paying tribute to 



NICODEMUS. 65 

the Romans; but he merely pointed to the 
emperor's effigy on the coin in proof of ac- 
knowledged jurisdiction. Next, the Sadducees 
put to him a supposed case of a woman's 
levirate marriage with seven brothers success- 
ively, and asked him whose wife she would 
be in the next world. But he simply told 
them that there would be no such earthly rela- 
tion there at all, and then deepened their con- 
fusion by citing the title of Jehovah as still the 
God of the patriarchs, who must therefore be 
in some sense yet living. Lastly, the Pharisees 
plied him with the famous problem of the most 
important commandment, and he referred them 
to the familiar passage of our phylacteries, 
' Thou shalt love Jehovah with all thy heart,' 
as comprehending every divine duty. It is 
wonderful how easily he met all their sophis- 
tries and untied their cunning knots. He has 
a most astonishing grasp and insight of the 
Scriptures, for he added as the great fellow- 
commandment, covering the second table of 
the law, as the other did the first, that striking 
prescription, so little heeded by us Jews, ' Thou 
shalt love thy neighbor as thyself?' All par- 
ties were obliged to confess how admirably he 



66 SKETCHES OF JEWISH LIFE. 

had cleared up every point propounded to him. 
But, best of all, he finally turned the tables 
upon all his opponents by putting to them the 
identical question which thou rememberest 
my husband years ago told us he heard asked 
by the precocious lad in the temple school- 
room, about David's Son and Lord. Can he 
be the same person with that child ? Strange 
that he should thus repeatedly recur in our 
recollections ! I could have sat and listened 
all day to such lovely and instructive parables 
and teachings as he uttered ; but he suddenly 
left with his disciples, and when I reached 
home I saw them sitting in earnest conversa- 
tion on the opposite side of Olivet. O, how I 
envy those women who seem to be his com- 
panions together with the twelve I I fancied 
I saw in the calm and thoughtful but still 
beautiful face of the oldest a resemblance to 
his own features. Can it be his mother? Is 
it the wan relic of the once bright girl of 
Bethlehem? What scenes of heart experience 
she must meanwhile have gone through ! 

" Dear sister, thou canst not know how 
deeply I am interested in that little circle, and 
especially in Him who is its center. I think 



NI CO DEM US. 67 

by day and by night of his teachings, his mys- 
terious character, his perils. I feel as if my 
future — I may almost say my eternal prospects 
— are hinged upon his fate. If such goodness, 
such purity, such philanthropy, come to grief 
or end in naught, what is there worth living 
for? What can be depended upon as valuable 
and permanent? Sarah." 

" 1 6th Nisan. 

•'Yesterday was a day of horrors. I was 
too much occupied and shocked to be able to 
write ; and even to-day I am overwhelmed 
with grief and amazement. I can hardly com- 
pose my mind to tell thee what has happened; 
but I will endeavor to calm myself sufficiently 
to give thee some account of it. The great 
Teacher has been put to death by his enemies! 
That terrible fact blots out all my hopes, and 
makes this Passover seem a funeral season to 
me. Let me relate, as well as I can, how it 
occurred. 

" Day before yesterday, it seems, the chief 
priests secretly bargained with one of his twelve 
disciples to betray him into their hands on 
the first safe opportunity, when the populace 



68 SKETCHES OF JEWISH LIFE. 

should be out of the way, who would have 
rescued him had the attempt to seize him 
been made in public. The traitor knew that 
his Master was in the habit of stopping for 
private prayer in an olive orchard on the way 
from Jerusalem to Bethany, and he concerted 
that the officials should meet him there at the 
close of the paschal supper. It was late at 
night when he arrived there, but they were on 
hand, and at a preconcerted signal they seized, 
bound, and carried him off. He made not the 
slightest resistance, but merely stipulated for 
the safety of his disciples. For convenience 
he was conveyed first to Annas, the ex-high- 
priest, whose authority he refused to recog- 
nize ; and then, at early light, he was brought 
before Caiaphas, the president of the Sanhe- 
drim, who immediately assembled that body 
and arraigned him as a prisoner before them. 
The forms of trial were observed, but every 
principle of justice was outraged. Finally, 
they brought in two venal fellows who swore 
that he had threatened to destroy the temple ; 
but their testimony did not agree in the de- 
tails, and so proved nothing. Determined to 
convict him of some capital crime at all haz- 



73 SKETCHES OF JEWISH LIFE. 

ards, the high-priest now put Jesus himself 
on his own oath as to his claims to the Mes- 
siahship, and then made use of his forced an- 
swer to convict him of blasphemy. My hus- 
band learned all these particulars from one of 
his colleagues afterward, for thou mayest be 
sure he was not in their plans and was not 
even notified of the meeting. The difficulty 
now was how to get the prisoner executed. 
The hierarchy dared not undertake it them- 
selves, for fear of the people no less than of the 
Roman authorities, especially on so great a 
feast day, when the city was crowded with 
visitors, and a disturbance would be likely to 
take place. They at last resolved to get Pilate 
himself to take the responsibility, knowing 
that he cared very little for the life of a pri- 
vate citizen. Accordingly, as soon as the proc- 
urator had opened his tribunal they led Jesus 
thither and asked him to confirm their own 
sentence. Suspecting the ruse, he demanded 
to know what offense the prisoner had com- 
mitted, and they began vehemently to charge 
him with various crimes, especially of claiming 
to be the King of the Jews. ' A strange-look- 
ing person to make such a claim,' said Pilate; 



NICODEMUS. 11 

and so he took the prisoner aside, supposing 
him to be some harmless enthusiast. A few 
words of conversation satisfied him that Jesus 
cherished at least no political aspirations, and 
he told the accusers that he would merely 
order a few lashes to be given the prisoner 
by way of warning. The soldiers accordingly 
took the liberty of treating Jesus with all 
sorts of personal indignity, suggested by the 
malice of the hierarchal minions, who had 
previously done whatever they dared in the 
same way in the high-priest's court. His per- 
secutors, however, were not satisfied with this, 
but clamored for his blood ; and when Pilate 
proposed to release him, as is customary for 
the procurator to do with some one Jewish 
criminal on the paschal holiday, they asked 
for the liberation of the notorious outlaw 
Jesus Barabbas, and the crucifixion of Jesus 
of Nazareth. ' I cannot legally put him to 
death,' remonstrated Pilate, ' unless you specify 
some more heinous crime than you have yet 
showed him to have committed.' ' O,' shouted 
the}', ' he is an arrant insurrectionist from 
Galilee ! ' 'Aha ! ' said he, catching at the last 
word, 'then he belongs to Herod's jurisdic- 



72 SKETCHES OF JEWISH LIFE. 

tion.' So he immediately dispatched him to 
that prince, who chanced at the time to be on 
a visit to the city, glad both to get rid of the 
case himself and at the same time to do his 
royal neighbor a courtesy. But Jesus de- 
clined to answer any of Herod's curious ques- 
tions, and so, being able to make nothing out 
of him, the prince sent him back again to 
Pilate, scornfully decked out with the mock 
ensigns of royalty. ' See, there comes your 
King! ' said Pilate to the Jews, as the soldiers 
led him in. ' Xo ! ' cried the artful prosecutors, 
eating their own words of the few days before, 
'the emperor is our only sovereign.' Just 
then the procurator's wife, Claudia Procula, 
who had overheard the uproar from her bed- 
room window, sent him word by no means to 
condemn the innocent prisoner. I have often 
talked with her about him, dear sister, and I 
know that she thinks as I do in the matter. 
The hierarchy, on the other hand, had now 
mustered in full force, and they vociferated, 
1 If thou let this seditious culprit go we will 
see that the emperor hears of thy negligence.' 
The fickle and corrupt governor hesitated. He 
was convinced of the prisoner's innocence, and 



NICODEMUS. 73 

would have saved him if he could safely and 
conveniently have done so ; but this last sug- 
gestion prevailed, and reluctantly he gave his 
assent to the demands of the priesthood, feebly 
protesting by formally washing his hands, as 
if that could free his conscience from the re- 
sponsibility. 

" It was now near the middle of the forenoon, 
and the execution of the terrible sentence after 
the barbarous Roman fashion took place im- 
mediately and in public. A rough cross was 
hastily constructed and brought to the spot, 
and the prisoner was compelled to walk with it 
on his shoulder to the place of execution. A 
motley crowd gathered along the street. The 
priests gloated over their victim with evident 
triumph ; but the populace looked on with 
helpless sympathy. None of his immediate 
disciples Avere present, except one who sup- 
ported the trembling mother by the side of the 
doomed. Numbers of Jewish women fell into 
the mournful procession, and I could not my- 
self resist the desire to mingle my tears with 
theirs as soon as I learned what was going on. 
How different the Teacher looked from his ap- 
pearance when he first entered the city this 




VIA DOLOROSA, JERUSALEM. 



NICODEMUS. 75 

week ! His face was haggard with last night's 
sleeplessness and his recent scourging. His pale 
brow was stained with bloody wounds. His 
garments were disheveled and soiled with 
dust. But the same majesty still hung about 
his person, and composure reigned in his mien. 
The look of placid sorrow was only deepened 
by his fallen circumstances, and his words were 
tender and thoughtful of others : ' Weep not 
for me, daughters of Jerusalem, but for your- 
selves and your children.' Surely our country , 
must some day expiate this deed with fearful 
retribution. I saw him faint under the fatigue 
and degradation, and my husband carried me 
senseless away. I could not bear to inquire 
about the frightful details which I know must 
have ensued. I only awoke myself to con- 
sciousness about noon and found the whole 
city wrapped in the darkness of an eclipse. 
Was it Nature herself hiding her face from the 
scene of guilt and woe ? I was told that the 
veil of the temple was torn and that shocks of 
an earthquake were felt. The hard Roman 
centurion who superintended the execution 
confessed that the dying agonies must be those 
of the Son of God. 



73 SKETCHES OF JEWISH LIFE. 

"Toward evening my husband went out 
with thy kind brother to look after the fate of 
the poor sufferer. He found Jesus hanging 
limp upon the cross, and the ruthless soldier 
on guard thrust a spear into the corpse's side 
to see if life were quite extinct. The two rob- 
bers who were crucified on either side had been 
dispatched by breaking their legs in order to 
put them out of their misery before the Sab- 
bath eve began. Pilate gave permission for the 
removal of the bodies, and that of the great 
Teacher was laid, after a hasty embalmment, in 
thy brother's new vault close by. All was quiet 
around. The crowd of spectators had departed, 
and only the female friends of the Nazarene re- 
mained to watch their dead. 

" O, sister, what are we to think of all this ? 
My head swims and my heart sinks with con- 
fusion. I am struck dumb with disappoint- 
ment and dismay. I feel as I did when I lost 
my own darling boy years ago and dared not 
look up to heaven lest I should murmur in 
mistake. Yet I must still confide in God as 
good and just and wise, and I cannot believe 
the Galilean Teacher an impostor. I now see 
the reason of his sad presentiment, and I am 



75 SKETCHES OF JEWISH LIFE. 

sure that he foresaw some retrieval from the 
present catastrophe. Yet I cannot imagine 
what it will be. His friends are heart-broken 
and his enemies jubilant. All speak of him, 
however, with bated breath. A hush, as of 
some terrible calamity, rests on this bright Sab- 
bath day, and every one seems to tread on tip- 
toe, not so much in expectation as in the dread 
of breaking the repose of the grave. Early 
this morning soldiers were stationed to watch 
the sepulcher ; for it seems the hierarchy them- 
selves are not yet quite sure of success. Are 
they afraid even of the dead body of their vic- 
tim ? For myself, whatever may come about, 
I am resolved to cherish his past teachings, 
for my inmost heart assures me of their truth ; 
and I will hold his memory dear as that of a 
martyr, however unsuccessful. Alas ! that the 
tallest tree should feel the lightning's greatest 
shock, and the fairest of earth's blossoms so 
quickly wither beneath the scorching breath of 
envious malignity ! SARAH." 

Such we may picture as the aspect of affairs 
at this. crisis to a loving woman's mind. How 
momentous it was in the world's history no 



N1C0DEMUS. 79 

man at the time could possibly understand. 
Angels, who gazed with breathless interest 
upon the apparent consummation of the plot, 
were not themselves able to conjecture what 
would be its real issue. The mystery of re- 
demption was a secret in the divine counsels, 
to be revealed in due course of time. The 
woman's Seed had received the predicted 
wound in his human part ; but that heel was 
yet to be uplifted and crush the serpent's head 
with a fatal blow. 

The first circumstance that roused Sarah 
from the consternation and almost stupor into 
which the tragedy of Calvary had thrown her 
was the news of the sudden disappearance, 
on the following morning, of the body of 
the Galilean Teacher from the tomb where it 
had been deposited. The Roman sentinels 
had circulated the report that his disciples had 
secretly conveyed it away while they slept 
at their post. But every body at once asked, 
" How, then, could they know this if they 
were themselves asleep at the time?" Pilate 
evidently did not believe the story, or he would 
have punished them for their remissness in 
duty. Besides, why should the disciples steal 



80 SKETCHES OF JEWISH LIFE. 

the body, and what would they do with it ? 
How could they get it when it was so closely 
guarded ? But it was certainly gone ; nobody 
could doubt that. Gradually the truth began 
to gain ground, whispered privately at first, 
but soon confirmed by many circumstances, 
especially his own predictions to that effect, 
that he had spontaneously left the tomb. The 
inner circle, of which Sarah was now recognized 
as a quasi-member, plainly declared this after 
a few days, and several of the disciples affirmed 
that they had seen, touched, and conversed 
with their Master alive on various occasions. 
He suddenly and mysteriously came and van- 
ished, showing a semi-angelic nature ; but he 
looked and walked and, eventually, ate just 
like his veritable self. He was seen in various 
parts of the country, but had no fixed place 
or visible mode of subsistence. A company 
of more than five hundred of his friends met 
him by appointment on a mountain in Galilee ; 
and, finally, after more than a month of this 
desultory sojourn on earth, he took his depart- 
ure by ascending bodily into the sky in the 
plain sight of his disciples, from the eastern 
slope of Olivet. 



NICODEMUS. 81 

All this was carefully ascertained by Sarah 
and verified by the statements of numbers of 
his followers who had no object in deceiving 
her or in deluding themselves. The facts were 
strange, but unquestionable. His friends had 
mostly abandoned all their personal expecta- 
tions and were barely keeping up a slight show 
of association together by these casual inci- 
dents ; but a few of them, including his apos- 
tles, the Galilean women, and other special 
votaries, like Sarah, clung closely to each other, 
especially after his ascension, impelled by a 
particular promise that he had given them of 
a peculiar divine endowment which they should 
soon experience collectively. In fact, they 
held meetings for conference and prayer for 
about ten days almost continuously, the num- 
ber of persons being altogether more than one 
hundred, assembled usually in the same upper 
room where the Master had celebrated his last 
Passover, and which belonged to one favorable 
to the cause. Nicodemus and Joseph likewise 
attended occasionally, for they were generally 
regarded as adherents of the Nazarene ; and so 
great soon became their attachment that Sarah 
invited her brother and his wife, who had of 



82 SKETCHES OF JEWISH LIFE. 

late become more deeply interested than ever 
in the fortunes of the Galilean prophet through 
her representations, to spend the approaching 
Pentecost in Jerusalem. 

That day, celebrated as the anniversary of 
the giving of the law on Sinai, the believers in 
Jesus felt was likely to be signalized by an 
event equally memorable to them. They were 
all therefore duly assembled and engaged in 
prayer and praise. Suddenly a loud noise, as 
of a strong- wind, was heard throughout the 
apartment; tongues like flame shot upward 
from the head of each person ; and their exer- 
cises were turned into ecstatic ejaculations and 
rejoicings. The sound of their voices, though 
in varied languages which many who uttered 
them had never before known, was nevertheless 
in concert ; and the strange scene soon at- 
tracted even passers-by, who gazed and listened 
with astonishment. The city was. full of for- 
eigners from every section of the Roman 
world, but all who crowded into the room rec- 
ognized in the shouts and exhortations his own 
mother-tongue. A few. of the spectators deemed 
the apparent confusion the effect of intoxica- 
tion, so excited were the speakers and so inco- 



NICODEMUS. S3 

herent or unmeaning their language to those 
who could not understand it ; but the majority 
were compelled to own in it the power of 
God. 

The event produced a tremendous sensation, 
leading multitudes who had hitherto been in- 
different or even opposed to the Nazarene to 
embrace his doctrines and enroll themselves 
among his followers. Nor was the influence less 
striking upon the believers themselves. It 
roused their courage, animated their zeal, and 
gave them fervor both in spirit and in utter- 
ance. Their worldliness fell off, their listless- 
ness disappeared, and spiritual views gave 
new impulse and steadiness to their aims and 
actions. It was the unction of the Holy Spirit 
which now warmed their service with filial love 
and consecration. The miraculous endowments 
which attended this inner experience were but 
the external symbols of a manifestation that 
was designed to characterize a new dispensa- 
tion. Peter, the foreman of the apostolic 
panel, at once fired with a boldness in striking 
contrast with his late defection, made a stirring 
address to the auditors, charging home upon 
the priests the murder of his Master and urging 



84 SKETCHES OF JEWISH LIFE. 

all to repentance and faith in the Nazarene. 
This was the baptism from on high predicted 
by the prophets of old, re-affirmed by John, 
and promised by Jesus as a seal of the organi- 
zation of the true members of the kingdom of 
heaven. It became thenceforth their universal 
privilege and their badge for all time ; but the 
miraculous accompaniments were, after this 
initial bestowment, to be conferred only by 
the apostles' hands, and therefore were con- 
fined to their own age. Greatly misappre- 
hended, even by professed interpreters of 
Scripture, it was, nevertheless, when properly 
viewed in its relations and design, a beautiful 
exemplification of the new life and liberty 
of the Gospel. What a pity that Christians 
should ever come to be inexperienced in its 
blessedness ! How lamentable that any should 
be skeptical of its reality, importance, or per- 
manence ! 

In that hour Nicodemus for the first time 
truly understood his first lesson from the Mas- 
ter's lips, Like many of the present day he, 
with his relatives, had been lying at the pool 
of regeneration, waiting for a revival impulse 
to bear them into its cleansing and renewing 



NI CO DEM US. 85 

water. With Sarah, as with the more intimate 
acquaintances of the Teacher, the change 
was less obvious, but none the less profound. 
It absorbed her whole nature, penetrated 
to her inmost soul, and made her heart a 
perfect shrine of the indwelling Jehovah. 
Jesus was thenceforth her one Lord. The 
mystery of his divinity was fully and forever 
solved for her. Even Obed and Rachel were 
constrained to yield their remaining doubts 
and cast in their lot with the new converts, 
who before the close of the day numbered 
three thousand. 

The infant Church enjoyed after this a short 
halcyon season of rest from outward opposi- 
tion. The fury of the hierarchy had been 
measurably appeased by the death of Jesus, 
and his followers seemed yet too feeble to 
attract special public consideration. Rapidly 
they gained in numbers, however, and in pop- 
ular favor, and the picture of their communal 
mode of life is charming for its simplicity and 
harmony. Among the converts our friends 
soon became conspicuous for their whole-heart- 
edness. Being of the wealthier class, they 
cheerfully contributed their worldly means to- 



86 SKETCHES OF JEWISH LIFE. 

ward the support of the many poorer members, 
most of whom were mere sojourners at Jeru- 
salem far away from their usual resources, 
while others were reduced to destitution by 
the abandonment of their Jewish relatives.. 
The miraculous cure of the cripple at the Beau- 
tiful Gate raised, indeed, a ripple of priestly 
persecution against them, which was swelled 
into quite a wave by the bold preaching of the 
apostles after their second release from prison ; 
but the mild counsel of Gamaliel averted the 
storm for the present, and it was not till about 
a year subsequently to the crucifixion that a 
fresh and resolute champion of Pharisaism 
arose in the person of Saul of Tarsus, who, 
beginning with the official arrest and execution 
of the protomartyr Stephen, carried wholesale 
desolation into the homes of the Christians 
throughout the land. His hostile career was 
suddenly stopped by the vision on the plain of 
Damascus, and he became a flaming advocate 
of the faith which he had before despised and 
assailed. During the lull which followed, and 
prior to his assumption of public labor as an 
apostle, occurred a series of incidents in Pal- 
estine in connection with which it will be con- 



NICODEMUS. 87 

venient to terminate this account of Nicode- 
mus and his kindred. 

The signal fate of Ananias and Sapphira 
induced still more of the Christian community 
to relinquish the whole of their property for 
the benefit of their less favored brethren, and 
our friends, among the rest, determined to fol- 
low the general example. The financial affairs 
of Obed had not for years been in a very flour- 
ishing condition, and he, therefore, had com- 
paratively little to contribute to the common 
stock. The wealth of Nicodemus, however, 
was considerable, and that of Joseph still more 
so ; but it was all gladly- consecrated to the 
new cause, and from that time they mostly lost 
their influence as Jews, among whom, not less 
than in Gentile and modern society, money is 
too often the passport to favor and the syn- 
onym of worth. They had long since ceased 
to be treated or regarded as members of the 
Sanhedrim, or to be invited to any public coun- 
cils of the country or city in which the Phar- 
isaic and the Sadducaic factions had made 
common cause against the new sect of the 
Nazarenes. The children of the three fami- 
lies, however, were now all comfortably settled 



8S SKETCHES OF JEWISH LIFE. 

in life, and no provision was required to meet 
the simple wants of our three friends and their 
wives beyond what the social arrangements of 
the Christian community afforded. Their time 
was exclusively and delightfully spent in min- 
istering to the necessities of the poor members, 
who had now become quite an eleemosynary 
institution, especially the home for the widows, 
where Sarah and Rachel found congenial occu- 
pation. The organization of the twelve dea- 
cons did not supersede this pious task, espe- 
cially as the outbreak of enmity in connection 
with the death of Stephen scattered the offi- 
cers of the young Church and left more for 
less conspicuous members to do. Therefore, 
while Philip was preaching in Samaria and 
elsewhere, and Peter at Joppa and Cesarea, 
and Barnabas at Antioch, the hands of these 
aged saints were equally busy in tending the 
fragments of the flock at Jerusalem. Contri- 
butions, indeed, began to flow into the mother- 
Church from the daughter outgrowth, especially 
during the famine predicted by Agabus, and 
the same benevolent practice was kept up 
when the Gospel, much later, had spread to 
the cities of Europe. How much of the sue- 



NICODEMUS. 89 

cess of the Church in every age is due to such 
lay labors, which, like Aaron and Hur, stay up 
the arms of the captain of the Lord's work ! 

Meantime Judea had reverted from Roman 
procuratorship to the Herodian family, and 
was ruled by a grandson, surnamed Agrippa, 
in connection with the northern provinces, 
which had remained as his patrimony. Hav- 
ing established his head-quarters at Jerusalem 
he was anxious to conciliate the priestly class 
predominant there, and thus readily lent him- 
self to the persecution of the Christians. The 
apostles naturally became prominent marks for 
the royal fury, and of the three remaining at 
his capital James, the son of Zebedee, was soon 
singled out for the sword on account of his 
fiery zeal. The other James, being of a milder 
disposition, long continued as the resident 
bishop there. Impetuous Peter did not escape 
attention. He was arrested by order of 
Agrippa, and only awaited the coming holiday 
as another victim to gratify the blood-thirsty 
hierarchy. But prayer arose in his behalf from 
every Christian circle, and late on Passover eve 
one of these continued at the house of John 
Mark's mother within the city walls. Sud- 



90 SKE TCHES OF JE WISH LIFE. 

denly knocking was heard at the street door, 
and Rhoda, the maid, ran through the alley to 
listen, apprehensive of still further emissaries 
from the king. She was so astonished to hear 
Peter's voice outside that she ran back, forget- 
ting even to unbar the door. He was soon 
admitted, however, and in few words related 
the manner of his release. A flaming angel 
had loosened his manacles and opened the 
prison door unperceived by the sentry on 
guard and unknown even to the two soldiers 
sleeping at the other ends of the chains upon 
his wrists. The outer prison-gate was in like 
manner passed, and then the great iron gate 
of the inner city wall, which opened of itself. 
He traversed the street and found his way to 
the well-known abode of his friends. Before 
morning he was safely out of the reach of his 
enemies. Agrippa could only punish the sol- 
diers for their failure to produce their prisoner, 
but he was so vexed at the disappointment 
that he removed his head-quarters to Cesarea. 
Shortly afterward a deputation from Phenicia 
waited upon him to patch up a quarrel which 
he had got into about his jurisdiction there, 
and he gave them a splendid reception. They 



NICODEMUS. 91 

applauded the oration which he made them 
from the throne as a piece of divine eloquence, 
and from that instant the same disgusting dis- 
ease which had carried off his grandfather at- 
tacked him, and he soon died in frightful tor- 
ments. Retribution overtook him speedily for 
his cruelty and impiety. 

The end approaches. With the good it is 
always blessed. Sarah lay quietly on her 
couch, her hand in the faithful clasp of her 
husband, her eyes turned upward and her lips 
gently parted in silent prayer. 

" Dost thou remember," she faintly said, 
" the saintly look of the aged Anna as we stood 
with hands interlocked long years ago gazing 
upon the presentation in the temple of the Babe 
of Bethlehem ? " 

" Aye, well I recall it," he answered softly, 
" and the devout words of the venerable 
Simeon, too, as he hailed the passport of re- 
lease from earth." 

A glow of heavenly joy passed over her pale 
features; she murmured, " Come, Lord Jesus; 
come quickly!" Her head fell back; her 
fingers relaxed. She was gone to the better 
land to behold the King in his beauty. Nico- 



92 SKETCHES OF JEWISH LIFE. 

demus tarried yet a few years this side the 
river ; but his heart was already where his 
treasure had long since been stored, and he 
only looked for the summons to cross like- 
wise. Without a misgiving or a regret he 
stepped calmly at last down into the waves; 
they parted at his touch, and, with words 
of holy triumph, he passed to the heavenly 
inheritance. Obed and Rachel too, in due 
time, came to the brink of the same stream, 
which all must cross, but where only the 
pious can discern the stepping-stones planted 
by earlier pilgrims in its bed. That little 
river, once hallowed by the consecration of 
the Son of God and mingled with the cur- 
rent of sacred history, has borne many on to 
the bitter waters of the sea of death ; and it 
has bathed thousands from many lands in its 
sweet but turbid waves. Thanks to divine 
revelation, Ave think of it not merely as a 
Lethean draught of oblivion from this world's 
sorrows, but as a torrent rolling with the water 
of life from the mount of God, its banks lined 
with immortal verdure and dispensing gladness 
evermore. 



GAMALIEL; 



SCENES IN THE DAYS OF SAINT PAUL 









INTRODUCTION. 



THE principal facts in the life of the apostle to the Gentiles 
are too well known to need recital in detail. In this 
sketch I shall, therefore, presume upon a general familiarity 
with them, and only refer to them briefly and incidentally. 
My chief purpose is to bring out Paul's character and career 
as a whole, if possible, with something like the vividness of 
reality. In order to this it will be necessary to supply some 
gaps in the record of his early history, and I will resort to 
imaginary incidents and particulars in doing so, being care- 
ful, however, to interweave in these whatever intimations, 
direct or indirect, exist on the subject in the sacred narrative, 
and to make them agreeable to the tenor of tradition likewise. 
I trust that these liberties will be pardoned for the sake of 
the design, especially as I have not trenched upon the mar- 
velous or extravagant. Respecting Gamaliel too little is au- 
thentically known to make his life the real theme, and I have 
therefore introduced him only in occasional connection with 
the better-understood figure who is central in the story. The 
positive evidence that Paul was not a bachelor turns upon a 
single word of his own. He says before Agrippa, referring, 
doubtless, to the martyrdom of Stephen, that he gave his vote 
(A. V., " voice ") against the Christians. This must have 
been in the Sanhedrim, and none but fathers seem to have 
been eligible to membership in that body. As a further con- 
sideration we may observe that the apostle's apt and frequent 
reference to the relations and duties of married life, in his 
epistles, plainly bespeak a personal experience. His allusions 
to his own solilary condition do not necessarily imply a state 
of celibacy, but only that he had no family at the time. 

7 




^ 



Gamaliel; 



OR, 

SCENES IN THE DAYS OF SAINT PAUL. 



IT was a quiet summer afternoon in Tarsus. 
The intense heat of the cloudless sun in 
that semitropical region had driven the na- 
tives within the covert of the houses, and all 
classes except the lowest peasants and labor- 
ers were waiting for the evening to enjoy their 
principal meal and the recreation following. The 
Roman soldiers almost nodded on their guard, 
and the city seemed lulled into repose. In 
one of the plain but respectable mansions of 
the Jewish quarter the father was plying his 
trade as a tent-maker, and his boy of ten years 
was assisting him in the lighter portions of the 
work. The position of the town rendered this 
a profitable employment, for the goats of 
Cilicia were famous for their long and thick 
coat of strong hair, which was the universal 



100 SKETCHES OF JEWISH LIFE. 

material for tent canvas ; and the caravans 
which transported the merchandise from the 
shore of Asia Minor to the interior of the East 
had necessarily to pass through the Cilician 
gates, a notch in the Amanus range at the 
north-eastern angle of the Mediterranean, not 
very far from Tarsus. The son was a bright 
fellow, and had mingled, to an unusual degree 
for one of pure Hebrew blood, with Gentile 
associations. He had attended the city school, 
had learned the stirring history of the past, 
especially the Greek reminiscences of the 
place, and had visited the neighboring spots 
where Alexander's great victories over the 
Persian hosts had been achieved. His father 
had received the honor of Roman citizenship 
for some public service, and he encouraged his 
son in these literary pursuits, which included 
the perusal of the Hellenic poets. But most 
of all the boy delighted in rabbinic studies, 
and spent much of his leisure in the peculiar 
lore of his nation. He had never yet seen 
Jerusalem, and he longed for the prescribed 
age to arrive when he should visit the capital 
of his forefathers and there be inducted into 
the full privileges of the Jewish Church. It 



GAMALIEL. 101 

had been promised that if he were diligent in 
his preparatory lessons he might spend sev- 
eral years in completing his theological course 
under the direction of one of the famous teach- 
ers there ; and he was fired with the ambition 
of becoming himself one day a rabbi of equal 
renown. 

" Father," asked he, in the midst of their 
manual employment, " may I not begin my 
studies at Jerusalem when I am twelve years 
old ? I have pretty much finished all I can 
learn here to advantage." 

"Yes, Saul," replied the indulgent father; 
" if thou art a good boy, and gettest on well 
here, and completest thy knowledge of our 
trade sufficiently, I think thy mother will con- 
sent to thy staying over when we go up to 
thy first Passover there." 

It was soon settled accordingly, and the lit- 
tle fellow's fingers plied the large sailor's nee- 
dle the more deftly and nimbly for the encour- 
aging thought. 

No sooner had the sun set behind the tall 
hills which skirt the city on the north-west 
than the cool but short twilight began, and 
the whole mass of the citizens sauntered forth 



102 SKETCHES OF JEWISH LIFE. 

and clustered in family groups to enjoy the 
hour in refreshments and gossip. The school- 
fellows reunited for play, and quoits and ball 
for the more gentle, with running and wres- 
tling for the more active, were rife on all sides, 
amid boisterous shouts and merry whistling. 

" Come on, Saul," said a cheery Greek lad. 
" Jew as thou art we want thee to make up 
our number at the game." 

And our young friend soon proved that he 
was as adept at sport as he was ready at work 
or study. 

He was rather small for his age, but remark- 
ably quick and energetic ; and he more than 
made up by tact and agility what he lacked 
in weight and strength. His hearty spirit and 
generous temper made him quite a favorite, 
even with his Gentile acquaintances ; and he 
had a happy faculty of availing himself of ex- 
igencies, which wore off the edge of a certain 
bluntness and persistency about him. All 
spoke well of his sturdy integrity and strict 
morality, however much they attributed these 
traits to Jewish superstition and hereditary 
punctilio. The lines of religious and social 
distinction were not drawn so closely in his 



GAMALIEL. 103 

native city as in more aristocratic localities of 
the Roman Empire, and especially in Palestine ; 
and prejudices on both sides were less strong 
and pervading. Despite his parental training, 
therefore, he grew up with a degree of liberal- 
ity rare in a Hebrew youth ; yet his intense na- 
tional pride showed itself whenever his faith 
or traditions were made the object of criticism 
or the butt of ridicule. He had already had 
many a battle, not only of words, but of blows, 
too, with boys older and bigger than himself, 
on these points; and they had come to respect 
his courage as well as his skill in these en- 
counters. He was evidently capable of taking 
care pretty well of himself, and his parents 
felt the less anxiety on this account in trust- 
ing him so far from home and so long as the 
above plan contemplated. They had relatives 
at Jerusalem, with whom he might remain 
while there. 

The interval passed quickly, and one spring 
morning the father and the mother, accom- 
panied by Saul and a couple of Hebrew servants, 
started on asses for the long-expected journey 
to the ancestral metropolis. 

The route was familiar to the parents from 



104 SKETCHES OE JEWISH LIFE. 

their frequent visits to the annual festivals, 
but most of it was new to the boy, and he 
kept up a constant chatter about its beauties. 

After crossing the terminal spur of the Tau- 
rus ridge the road lay through the gorges of 
Upper Syria, and the party, swelled by their 
compatriots bound on the same errand, halted 
in the charming vale of Antioch, where a large 
accession joined their number. Thence they 
pursued their leisurely way through the rich 
valley of Ccele-Syria, and so on through Gali- 
lee and Samaria, receiving the ready hospital- 
ity of the people, and often finding acquaint- 
ances as they passed along. At length the 
holy city appeared in the distance, and emo- 
tions of sacred joy thrilled the breast of 
the neophyte, who was there to be publicly 
initiated into the commonwealth of Israel. 
The ceremonies were simple, as are all the ex- 
tra-Levitical ordinances of Judaism, but they 
are none the less on that account impressive 
to the thoughtful and pious mind. 

Saul was delighted beyond measure with 
the romantic manner in which the family par- 
took of the paschal meal in their novel situa- 
tion as sojourners. He spent every leisure 



GAMALIEL. 105 

moment of the whole week in rambling over 
the localities of the city, familiar to him al- 
ready by name and association from Scripture, 
from tradition and from domestic description. 
He was just in that stage of development, half 
boy and half man — -for he now felt himself 
above childish toys andpu erile amusements — 
to enjoy to the full the splendid ritual of the 
temple and the magnificent sights of the Jew- 
ish capital, then in its glory, and yet not to 
be annoyed by care about himself or anxiety 
for the future. All seemed bright and lovely. 

The lad and his parents were not slow in 
finding their way to the various schools of the 
city, as his education was the main thing now 
to be attended to. After a careful consulta- 
tion they decided to put him in charge of 
Gamaliel, who was specially recommended to 
them by their most judicious friends, and 
whose reputation was steadily rising amid the 
conflict and rivalry of the chief rabbis. 

Although comparatively young he was a 
teacher of singular sobriety and moderation. 
He had studied the Scriptures until he had 
penetrated far beyond his fellows into their 
intent and scope, and he discovered depths of 



106 SKETCHES OE JEWISH LIEE. 

spiritual meaning and application in the pre- 
scriptions of the law and the pictures of the 
prophets which were hidden to the common 
eye of the formal and technical expounder. 
He was a thorough Jew, strict in his interpre- 
tation and legalism ; but he sought a middle 
path in doctrine between the extreme bigotry 
of the Pharisees and the lax rationalism of the 
Sadducees, and in practice between the rash 
nationalism of the zealots and the complai- 
sant worldliness of the Herodians. He insisted 
upon principles rather than details, and he in- 
stilled into his pupils a love of broad and far- 
reaching views instead of temporary and per- 
sonal expedience. 

The young Saul soon became a favorite with 
him from the youth's ingenuousness and ap- 
plication, and the latter speedily conceived 
the most profound enthusiasm for his teacher. 
The impressions thus made were formative of 
his character, and their effects appeared to 
his dying day. 

The allotted period of instruction passed 
rapidly, and at the request of both teacher and 
pupil it was prolonged considerably, so that 
at its close Saul was pronounced by Gamaliel 



GAMALIEL. 107 

to be one of the most proficient scholars for 
his age whom he had ever seen. 

The condition of Judea at this time was pe- 
culiarly favorable for quiet study. Roman 
jurisdiction was fully established, and the com- 
paratively peaceful reigns of both Augustus 
and Tiberius rendered the provinces as secure as 
the more central portions of the empire. The 
proconsuls and procurators, who had the joint 
or alternate charge of Syria, including Jeru- 
salem, had not yet reached that pitch of petty 
tyranny which finally drove the Jewish nation 
into rebellion ; and the remnants of native 
sovereignty, in the persons of some members 
of the Herodian family, who still held sway in 
Galilee and the adjoining districts, gave a sem- 
blance of independence, which went far to 
reconcile the people to the foreign yoke. It 
was not the policy of Rome to disturb the na- 
tive customs and privileges of her subjects, 
when these did not interfere with allegiance 
in essential matters; and the Jews were there- 
fore left to enjoy their peculiar faith and to 
carry on their hereditary, and especially their 
religious, pursuits unmolested. The pagan au- 
thorities cared nothing" for the casuistic trifles 



108 SKETCHES OF JEWISH LIFE. 

about which the rabbinic doctors disputed, 
and they were only too glad to have the 
hierarchal heads of the populace divided 
and diverted from more serious questions by 
these abstrusities. The temporary excitement 
which had been felt at the Jewish capital from 
the visit of the magi had long since passed 
away with the death of Herod himself, and 
so slight an incident as the recent appearance 
for a few days of a remarkable boy from Naz- 
areth in the temple-school had left no per- 
manent impression even on the minds of the 
rabbis, who were then present, including Ga- 
maliel himself. 

Saul pursued his biblical and talmudical 
studies, if we may so style them at this date, 
unaffected by any outward influence, and 
only felt regret when the time at last came 
that he must quit these congenial and leisurely 
engagements for the more earnest and secular 
occupations of his home. He was now a young 
man as Easterns reckon age ; of fine though 
delicate personal appearance, polished and 
high-minded, eager to distinguish himself in 
whatever line duty might call or opportunity 
open. His parents received him back with 



GAMALIEL. 109 

joyful pride. For the present it was judged 
best that he should occupy himself with the 
commercial part of his father's trade, which 
had grown to a lucrative business, and re- 
quired considerable journeys to the neighbor- 
ing marts for the disposal of his fabrics. 
These would give the young man at once a 
sight of the common world and practical tact 
in dealing with men. Meanwhile he could 
continue his course of reading during the inter- 
vals of travel. It was naturally thought that 
thus by the time that he should arrive at 
thirty years — the conventional age for the 
debut of a Jewish public man — he would be 
well fitted to return to Jerusalem and there 
assume some office or position due to his tal- 
ents and acquirements. 

The ten years of this interval were accord- 
ingly filled with mercantile details mixed with 
some literary matters, but they were also 
marked by adventures of a more private and 
romantic sort, the outcome of which affected 
in a peculiar manner Saul's whole adult career. 
In one of his business visits to the sea-coast 
cities of the archipelago he made the acquaint- 
ance of a Jewish family, among whose members 



110 SKE TCHES OF JE WISH LIFE. 

was a daughter of great personal attractions. 
The usual order of things followed, and, in ac- 
cordance with the Oriental custom of early 
marriage, the parents of both parties were 
easily inclined to a match which promised so 
well. The young couple were united, and 
for a twelvemonth lived most happily to- 
gether. But Providence had harder fields for 
Saul than those of domestic bliss. A first-born 
fora few days gladdened his eyes, and then both 
mother and babe were laid together in an un- 
timely grave. Saul's ardent and tender nature 
was so deeply stunned by the double blow that 
he was unable for a long time to give attention 
to his ordinary affairs, and when he at length 
recovered from his melancholy it was with 
deepened, but different, resolves for future use- 
fulness. He had from his earliest years pon- 
dered much and often upon his interior relig- 
ious state, and the teachings of Gamaliel had 
probably given a penetration and sobriety to 
these reflections unusual with a young man, 
especially a Jew of regular ecclesiastical stand- 
ing and irreproachable morality. But he now 
experienced a solemnity and introspection 
which no rabbinism could impart. The Holy 



GAMALIEL. Ill 

Spirit was undoubtedly at work upon his mind 
and heart, operating in its first stages through 
his naturally sensitive conscience ; so true is it 
that " the fear of the Lord is the beginning of 
wisdom." But this is only the first lesson in the 
school of righteousness. The love of the Lord, as 
the Old Testament plainly teaches, is its high- 
est attainment. At present, like the young 
man in the gospels, Saul felt that he lacked 
something essential yet. In the pungency and 
thoroughness of his heart-searchings during this 
season of bereavement and gloom he discovered 
that, despite his outward conformity to the law 
of God, his heart had many rebellions and re- 
pinings which were far from compatible with 
the spiritual reach and profound import of that 
code. His experience was a sad, but luminous, 
commentary upon the- decalogue. " Sin, tak- 
ing occasion by the commandment, wrought in 
him all manner of desire ;" he " saw another 
law in his members warring against the law of 
his mind, and bringing him into captivity to the 
law of sin which was in his members." He 
found himself " carnal, sold under sin ; " and 
inwardly cried out, "O wretched man that I 
am ! who shall deliver me from the body of this 



112 SKETCHES OF JEWISH LIFE. 

death ? " His very conscientiousness only added 
to the intensity of his mental conflict. In de- 
spair of any other mode of relief, he now de- 
termined to renounce the world of pleasure, 
which had so bitterly disappointed him, and to 
consecrate himself to the cause of religion with 
redoubled fervor and exclusiveness. He thus 
hoped to satisfy his convictions of duty and 
calm the tumult in his soul. His was but the 
common mistake of asceticism as a remedy for 
moral dyspepsia ^ The prescribed age of his 
public majority had arrived, and, with the full 
consent of his parents, who hoped in this way 
to arouse him to activity again, he took leave 
of Tarsus and presented himself at Jerusalem 
as a candidate for ecclesiastical labor and re- 
nown. He was not of the Aaronic or Levitical 
lineage, and therefore could be of no use in the 
temple services ; but his education and experi- 
ence pointed him out as likely to be available 
for the instruction of youth and other religious 
work. Events had recently occurred at the 
Jewish capital during his long absence which 
called for his aid, and he was speedily elected 
a member of the Sanhedrim and intrusted with 
various commissions of an ecclesiastical char- 



GAMALIEL. 



113 



acter. His neophyte partisanship was espe- 
cially enlisted against the new sect of the Naza- 
renes, whose leader, he learned, had been 
ignominiously executed as a political incendiary 
a few months before, but which had lately 
sprung up with renewed persistency under the 
prestige of certain miraculous powers with 
which his followers claimed to be endowed. 




SANHEDRIM. 

He determined that he would achieve dis- 
tinction in rooting out this compound of insur- 
rectionism and heresy, and he hoped that in 
this task he should find rest for his troubled 
conscience. He would work out his salvation, 
and he fancied he saw his vocation in this dis- 
interested labor. He was not the first nor the 



114 SKETCHES OF JEWISH LIFE. 

last to seek relief from the convictions of inward 
sin in acts of external devotion. Surely it was 
doing God service to suppress this vile im- 
posture. He would even stifle the natural 
emotions of pity and steel himself to any deed 
of rigor necessary to accomplish the meritorious 
purpose. Humanity were a fit sacrifice to di- 
vinity. Ah, Saul ! as little dost thou know of 
what spirit thou really art as the apostles whom 
thou now persecutest did when they would call 
down lightning from heaven upon schismatics. 
Elijah might do this to ward off a military force, 
but he was himself instructed that Deity dwelt 
not in such consuming fire. Gamaliel was un- 
fortunately absent at the time of our young 
bigot's arrival in Jerusalem, and the milder 
counsel which he had recently given with re- 
gard to the treatment of the leaders of the new 
movement had been forgotten in the blind fury 
of ecclesiastical zeal. A perverted conscience 
is the worst of all advisers, and there is scarcely 
any crime that has not been committed under 
pretense of saving the Church from danger. 

An opportunity was soon afforded Saul to 
exhibit his enthusiasm. The martyrdom of 
Stephen brings him prominently into public 






GAMALIEL. 115 

view as first voting for the condemnation of 
the prisoner before the bar of the Sanhedrim 
and then rushing out with the mob and en- 
couraging them in the execution of the sen- 
tence. Like a tiger maddened with the first 
taste of blood he followed up this fleshing of 
his maiden sword with a wholesale determina- 
tion of slaughter. After exhausting the list of 
known abettors of the new faction in Jerusa- 
lem and its vicinity he hies on a similar errand 
to the largest city near the route to his own 
home, not dreaming that he is pursuing a course 
for which in the end he will never be able to 
forgive himself. But God has mercy upon 
many who act ignorantly through unbelief, 
else none would find repentance ; and the same 
love that prayed upon the cross for its mur- 
derers arrested him in his headlong career. 
The conversion of any one is a miracle of 
grace, and that of Saul on the plain of Damas- 
cus was only more striking in its outward cir- 
cumstances. Strong natures require forceful 
treatment, and minds constituted like his de- 
mand direct evidence. He yielded to the first 
clear presentation of the Saviour, and his sur- 
render was as complete as it was sudden. The 



1 1 6 SKE TCHE S OF JE WISH LIFE. 

crisis was sharp but decisive, and the transla- 
tion from the kingdom of darkness to that of 
God's dear Son was equally rapid and perma- 
nent. We can, therefore, well understand how, 
after the long-continued cry of legal despair, 
"Who shall deliver me?" he should imme- 
diately exclaim, upon the healing touch of 
Ananias, with such abruptness, " I thank God 
through Jesus Christ our Lord." He had found 
peace in believing on the crucified Nazarene. 
Henceforth there was no doubt about his mis- 
sion ; he was a chosen vessel to bear the name 
of Jesus to the Gentile world, and for this all 
his previous training had been providential. 

Saul lost no time in beginning his work ; he 
was already in a Gentile city, and with the 
ardor of a young convert he proclaimed to all 
the joy of his salvation. The Christians whom 
he had come to destroy were now his delight, 
and the Jewish synagogues, to which he bore 
letters of introduction for a very different pur- 
pose, were his field of preaching. Talented 
and educated, enthusiastic and divinely called 
though he was, yet he soon found a special 
drill needful for his high commission. The 
other apostles had enjoyed for three years the 




WMl 






w 



mm- 



118 SKETCHES OF JEWISH LIFE. 

benefit of their Master's personal instructions, 
and it was proper that he who was destined to 
be not a whit behind any of them should have 
a similar season of direct revelation, which 
should include the facts as well as the doctrines 
of the Gospel. He would thus be prepared to 
promulgate the truth on no second-hand au- 
thority, and, although born out of due time, be 
placed by miraculous communication on a level 
with the original eye-witnesses. Accordingly, 
in the silent wilds of Sinai, where Moses had 
tended his sheep and whither Elijah had retired 
for closer communion with Jehovah, Saul spent 
his novitiate, pondering, like these representa- 
tives of the law and the prophets, the deep 
problems of God's dealings with his people, and 
drawing inspiration from the pure air of heaven 
and the unsophisticated scenes of nature. 
There, where the decalogue had been given, 
he thrice held alone his Pentecost as its anni- 
versary in a fresh baptism of light and power 
from on high as a champion of the dispensation 
of the Spirit. Gamaliel's tuition was merged 
in the lessons of the great Teacher to that 
solitary disciple. He came forth at length, 
with no parchments of earth ; to write his ere- 



GAMALIEL. 119 

dentials with the divine finger, not on tables of 
stone, but on human hearts. He returned 
direct to Damascus and recommenced preach- 
ing so earnestly and powerfully as to excite the 
hostility of the Jews, who induced the Arab 
sheik then temporarily occupying the city to 
take measures for his apprehension. The gates 
were watched and the town searched to discover 
him ; but his Christian friends secreted him in 
a house adjoining the city wall, and by night 
he was lowered in a basket from a balcony win- 
dow that projected outside. He repaired to 
Jerusalem, where Peter and James the Less 
were the only apostles resident at the time ; 
and after Barnabas, who had learned the facts 
of his conversion, had dissipated the suspicions 
of the Christian society regarding him, he fear- 
lessly proclaimed his newly found faith, espe- 
cially to the foreign Jews. He still continued 
his worship at the temple, however, and on one 
occasion while there he fell into an ecstasy 
which quite overcame his physical powers. In 
his raptured swoon he seemed to be transported 
to heaven, and experienced a vision of ineffable 
delight, the glorified Jesus again appearing to 
him and renewing his mission to the Gentiles. 



GAMALIEL. 121 

His freshly fired zeal provoked his countrymen 
to such violent opposition that his friends were 
again compelled to convey him away for safety. 
He took passage from Cesarea for Tarsus ; but 
even there enmity awaited him. His relatives 
refused to receive him, calling him an apostate 
from Judaism, and heaped the most dreadful 
curses on his head. He had incurred the loss 
of all things temporal, but he counted it clear 
gain for the sake of his Lord. It left him all 
the more free for his sacred work. His trade 
remained as a means of subsistence, and he 
cheerfully, nay, joyfully, betook himself to 
preaching gratuitously as the business of his 
future life. Single-handed, he immediately en- 
tered upon a series of evangelistic toils in his 
native region, which for the next ten years ex- 
posed him to the most severe privations and 
the most fearful dangers. The elements of 
nature and the malice and treachery of men 
combined in vain to stop his progress and 
damp his ardor. It is in this interval that we 
must place his own formidable catalogue of 
disasters, hardships, and persecutions, deduct- 
ing only those which we know occurred else- 
where. He was " in labors more abundant, in 



122 SKETCHES OE JEWISH LIFE. 

stripes above measure, in prisons frequent, in 
deaths oft. Of the Jews five times he received 
forty stripes save one. Thrice was he beaten 
with rods ; thrice he suffered shipwreck, a night 
and a day he was in the deep." We might 
work up quite a tale of adventure from these 
and the associated items had we space. But 
none of these trials and sufferings daunted him 
for a moment ; they only served to attach him 
more closely to the cause he had espoused and 
to inure him to still more self-sacrificing exer- 
tions in its behalf. He was assured that the 
divine Ma'ster whom he served would carry him 
triumphantly through to the end and enable 
him to plant the cross in still more distant 
lands. 

We now approach the main portion of the 
apostle's public career, where we have a con- 
secutive narrative by an intelligent companion 
to guide us, and we have, therefore, only to in- 
terject the information supplied by his own 
writings. Our special plan, nevertheless, would 
not be so well subserved by a continuation of 
his history directly and in full, which may be 
found in every professed text-book on his life, 
as by a side-view through some of his co- 



GAMALIEL. 123 

laborers and spiritual children, one of the most 
important of whom we will introduce for this 
purpose as soon as he appears upon the stage 
of action. 

By sporadic labors such as we have just 
reviewed Christianity had now become planted 
in many of the prominent points along the 
Syrian coast, but with the exception of Cesa- 
rea and Samaria it had been confined to the 
Jewish population. At Antioch, however, 
which was a noted center of intercourse, some 
of the converts from the extreme limits, such 
as Cyrene and Cyprus, began to preach the 
Gospel among the natives, or Gentiles, like- 
wise, and with such success as to attract the 
attention of the mother-Church at Jerusalem 
to their unofficial proceedings. Barnabas was 
accordingly dispatched to supervise these 
operations, and he was so much gratified with 
their genuineness that he sent for his friend 
Saul from Tarsus to aid him in carrying them 
forward, and for a year they labored together 
in the revival there most harmoniously and 
efficiently. The infant society thus formed at 
Antioch was soon able to repay their obliga- 
tions by a pecuniary contribution to their 



124 SKETCHES OF JEWISH LIFE. 

brethren in Judea, who were especially im- 
poverished by a dearth at this time ; and Bar- 
nabas and Saul, now publicly recognized as 
colleagues of- the apostles, were the delegates 
to convey it to Jerusalem. Not long after 
their return they were formally consecrated as 
missionaries at a solemn church meeting, and 
started on their first tour. It was naturally 
directed first to the large island of Cyprus ad- 
jacent, of which Barnabas was a native, and 
thence to the main-land of Asia Minor, oppo- 
site. We pass over the incidents on the way, 
and find them striking boldly up into the in- 
terior, Saul taking the lead from his natural 
energy, and being henceforth known as Paul, 
a Roman name which he had probably borne 
from boyhood among his Gentile acquaint- 
ances. The missionaries at first availed them- 
selves of the synagogue privileges to preach 
to the Jewish congregations, but they soon 
aroused opposition, which compelled them to 
betake themselves to Gentile auditors, and 
finally chased them with murderous fury from 
town to town. 

The great central plateau of Asia Minor 
was occupied by heathen tribes, some of them 



■GAMALIEL, 125 

natives, as in Phrygia, others immigrants from 
distant quarters, as in Galatia, but all of them 
tinctured with Greek habits and superstitions, 
especially Lycaonia, a wild region, where 
mythical tales of appearances of the gods in 
human form were rife. At Lystra, a small 
town of this last-named district, there was 
living a family which strikingly illustrates the 
mixed state of society. The father was a 
pagan, but the mother had been carefully 
trained in the Mosaic precepts by the pious 
grandmother, and a son, of delicate constitu- 
tion and gentle susceptibilities, had shared 
these female instructions, but was not a mem- 
ber of the Jewish Church. One day in the 
autumn the youth heard loud huzzahs in the 
street, and, running to the town gate, he found 
a large procession headed by the priest of Ju- 
piter, who was leading oxen garlanded for vic- 
tims to the temple, and escorting two stran- 
gers, whom the crowd were evidently honoring. 
One was a venerable man of noble appearance, 
whom they had mistaken for Jupiter himself, 
and the other was younger, of slight form and 
voluble manner, whom they were addressing 
as Mercury, the messenger of their gods. The 



126 SKETCHES OF JEWISH LIFE. 

two, however, were protesting in foreign accent 
against the whole proceeding, which the crowd 
in the barbarous idiom of the country had 
great difficulty in making intelligible to them. 
Presently he saw a number of persons coming 
-from a different direction, whom he easily rec- 
ognized as Jews, and a violent altercation en- 
sued between the three parties. Inquiring of 
a by-stander what was the matter, he learned 
that the two strangers had just cured a con- 
firmed cripple instantly. In a few minutes 
he saw the new-comers seize them, and, with 
the aid of some of the populace, began to 
throw stones at them, especially at the 
younger of the two, who was soon knocked 
senseless, and then dragged out of the town 
for dead* The young man followed with ex- 
cited interest and joined the little circle that 
had gathered about the apparently lifeless 
body as the crowd dispersed. The wounded 
and bleeding stranger, however, suddenly 
arose, seemingly well, and walked away. 
Young Timothy's sympathies for the perse- 
cuted Paul now deepened into reverence, and 
he invited him to his own home. The visit 
was that of an angel to the household, and 



GAMALIEL. 127 

when the apostle departed the next day a 
spiritual friendship had been formed between 
the two which ever after led them to think 
and speak of each other as father and son. 
On the return of the missionaries a few days 
later the youth's name was enrolled among 
the members of the Christian brotherhood. 
They departed by the same route homeward, 
and he remained a pillar in that little Church. 

About the same time the next year Paul 
revisited the region in company with Silas, 
who bore the canons of the first council at 
Jerusalem, and the Christian societies of the 
neighborhood were fully organized. Timothy, 
young as he was, received an appointment as 
the apostle's assistant, and was formally or- 
dained as such by the hands of his senior 
fellow-members, having first submitted to the 
rite of circumcision out of respect to the 
prejudices of the Jews. We will allow him to 
tell a portion of the sequel in a supposed let- 
ter to his friends at home : 

" After leaving you we three traveled to- 
gether northward and westward through Ga- 
latia and Phrygia, establishing Christian com- 
munities in the former province especially. I 



128 SKETCHES OF JEWISH LIFE. 

was enabled to be a great comfort to Paul, 
who was for a time seriously indisposed. Our 
desire was to pursue our way to the important 
Greek cities on the coast of the ^Egean, but 
on reaching Mysia we were prevented by an 
impulse which we felt to be divine from turn- 
ing- cither to the left or the right, and so 
pushed on directly to the north-western shore, 
where Troy anciently stood. Here Paul had 
a vision in a dream, which explained these 
singular leadings of Providence ; a man seemed 
to him to stand on the opposite side of the 
sea and beckon for help. We inferred that we 
were to preach the Gospel in Europe, and ac- 
cordingly took passage direct for Macedonia, 
accompanied by the physician Luke, who had 
now joined our party. Landing at Neapolis, 
we proceeded to Philippi, the principal city 
adjacent, which you will remember from the 
days of the triumvirs as possessing Roman 
privileges. As usual, we first sought out the 
Jewish brethren, whom we found in a prayer- 
chapel near the river, and a pious lady soon 
opened her purple-dyeing factory for our ac- 
commodation as a preaching-place. But a 
crazy slave-girl used to meet us on our way to 



GAMALIEL. 129 

the room, and one day Paul cured her in the 
name of his Master. Her owners, who were 
making a fortune out of her insane ravings as 
Pythonic oracles, were greatly incensed, and, 
seizing Paul and Silas as the principal parties, 
charged them before the magistrates with 
being incendiary innovators. A crowd soon 
gathered, at whose suggestion the prisoners 
were summarily beaten and then thrust into 
the inner dungeon and their feet fastened in 
the stocks. But a midnight earthquake set 
them free and brought the jailer to his knees 
for divine mercy. He was converted with all 
his family ; and the officers who had illegally 
beaten the prisoners were glad to treat them 
civilly. The Gospel has triumphed. Paul and 
Silas joyfully continued their journey through 
Macedonia, leaving Luke and me to follow 
leisurely and gather up the fruits of their 
preaching. I joined them at Thessalonica, 
where they had great success for three weeks, 
until the Jews raised an uproar, and our host 
had to go bail for our good behavior. At 
Berea similar scenes were enacted, and Paul 
concluded to sail away alone for Athens. 
Silas remained to care for the new converts, 



GAMALIEL. 131 

while I went back to Thessalonica to care for 
those there. We all joined Paul here in Cor- 
inth, where he had already made the acquaint- 
ance of a devout Jew and his wife recently 
from Rome. Paul preached first in the syna- 
gogue and afterward in a private house adjoin- 
ing, where many persons have been converted, 
including some of influence, both Jews and 
Gentiles. I send this by the bearer of an 
epistle to the Church at Thessalonica, as I am 
unable to leave yet." 

At a subsequent date we may presume 
Timothy to have written home from the same 
place to the following effect : 

" The Jews have made a disturbance here 
also, but the Roman proconsul had too much 
good sense to notice them, and he even allowed 
the populace to beat the newly appointed syna- 
gogue-ruler publicly in revenge. A large society 
has now been gathered, although its elements 
are rather incongruous, and some of the Gentile 
members are not so well indoctrinated as could 
be wished. We are shortly to sail for Ephesus 
with our Roman friends, the Jew and Jewess, 
and I expect to return home thence, while 
Paul goes on to Jerusalem to attend the 



132 SKE TCHES OF JE WISH LIFE. 

Pentecost festival. I send this by the bearer 
of a second epistle to the Church at Thessa- 
lonica." 

A short stay at Antioch sufficed the un- 
wearied Paul, and he then started on his long- 
est and last recorded tour. The newly planted 
churches in the interior of Asia Minor were 
again his first care, and thence he took Timo- 
thy along with him to complete the pro- 
gramme which had been so remarkably pre- 
vented on his preceding journey. Ephesus, 
as the chief city of the proconsular or Greek 
coast, was naturally his principal point, and he 
found the work there singularly prepared for 
his hand by one of the most notable, but 
through his own modesty least noted, of the 
early Christian evangelists. Apollos was an 
eloquent and probably learned pupil of the 
Jewish school at Alexandria, and had em- 
braced the preliminary doctrines of the Bap- 
tist, but knew no more of the Gospel. His 
fervent zeal, however, led him to preach ear- 
nestly as far as he knew, and he had gathered 
a dozen disciples in Ephesus before the arrival 
of the Roman Jew and Jewess who had ac- 
companied Paul from Corinth. These two 



GAMALIEL. 133 

SQon perceived his lack of acquaintance with 
the deeper things of the Gospel, and with char- 
acteristic candor he readily embraced the full 
truth from their plain but experienced lips, as 
they had themselves received it direct from 
Paul. Apollos himself went on to Corinth, 
and there re-enforced the work already begun 
by the missionaries, leaving his own field at 
Ephesus to be cultivated by his humble teach- 
ers there. The coming of Paul with apostol- 
ical gifts was the signal for a powerful revival, 
which for three years required the incessant 
labors of the apostle and his assistants, a 
letter being sent back during this time 
to the churches of Gaiatia, which showed 
symptoms of apostatizing to Judaism under 
the influence of false teachers who had fol- 
lowed in Paul's wake. The uproar raised at 
the Pan-Ionic festival of Diana compelled him 
at length to sail across into Macedonia, whither 
Timothy had already preceded him, on the 
way to Corinth. The Church in this latter 
place, notwithstanding, and, indeed, .to some 
extent because of the visit of Apollos, had 
during Paul's absence fallen into serious dis- 
putes and even immoralities, and Titus was 



GAMALIEL. 135 

dispatched from Ephesus as the bearer of an 
apostolic letter in reply to one just now received 
touching these and kindred points. Paul's lan- 
guage was deservedly severe, but his tender 
heart misgave him for the result, and he had 
no peace until Titus, on his return, met him on 
his arrival in Macedonia with the tidings of its 
good effect, and he poured out his fatherly soul 
in a second letter, which reveals at the same 
time his playful simplicity. Timothy mean- 
while had also rejoined him, and the whole 
party proceeded leisurely, visiting the various 
churches on their route and remaining three 
months in Corinth. The letter to the Romans, 
a masterpiece of theology too often misinter- 
preted, is due to this interval, and discloses the 
far-reaching plans of the apostle as to his fut- 
ure labors. Jewish plots prevented his sailing 
direct from Corinth for Syria, and he returned 
by way of Macedonia with Timothy, and his 
other associates, including Luke, who rejoined 
them at Philippi, apparently having been de- 
tailed on special errands in the long interim. 
At Troas, Miletus, Tyre, and Cesarea touching 
incidents occurred on the way, all ominous of 
catastrophe awaiting Paul at Jerusalem ; but 



186 SKETCHES OF JEWISH LIFE. 

he went steadily on, carrying with him the 
purse made up by the Gentile churches for the 
poor saints at the metropolis of Judaism. The 
romantic rather than tragic adventures which 
there and in consequence befell him need not 
here be recited. Had he not taken the pusil- 
lanimous advice of his friends he would not 
have exposed himself to arrest in the temple; 
but his shrewdness in asserting his rights as a 
Roman citizen saved him from scourging, and 
finally gave him a free passage to the capital 
which he had long wished to visit. The same 
ready wit appears in his setting the Sanhedrim 
by the ears when attempting to try him, and 
in defeating the conspiracy for his assassina- 
tion. The perfidy of man and the fury of the 
elements were baffled, the greed of Felix and 
the tyranny of Nero were eluded, and the 
Gospel was planted in the center of the world, 
and even in theim perial household, by the 
solitary preaching of an obscure prisoner from 
a foreign and despised land. The letters which 
he there subscribed with a chained hand are an 
invaluable legacy to the Church, and also dis- 
play many fine touches of the apostle's life and 
character. We pass over the exciting inci- 



GAMALIEL. 137 

dents of his apprehension and detention and 
the interesting particulars of his shipwreck, 
which are told by Luke with the graphic 
power of a skillful eye-witness. Paui survived 
to carry out substantially the scheme of travel 
which he had many years before marked out. 
Let us gather together the scattered intima- 
tions of his last labors and accompany him to 
the fina*l scene. 

It is evident that as soon as his case was 
reached on the imperial docket on his first 
imprisonment he was speedily released. The 
writ of commitment was frivolous on its face, 
and no prosecutors appeared. Nearly all his 
companions had been dismissed. Luke seems 
to have gone first, probably on some errand to 
the churches of Macedonia, and to have re- 
turned after a considerable interval. The fruit 
of his journey may have been the substantial 
gift in replenishment of Paul's straitened 
means, sent from. Philippi through Epaphrodi- 
tus, and acknowledged in a letter carried back 
by the latter after he had recovered from a 
severe attack of the Roman fever. Tychicus 
had meanwhile been commissioned to carry to 
the Ephesians a circular epistle, to be exchanged 



138 SKETCHES OF JEWISH LIFE. 

at Laodicea with cue of kindred contents, ad- 
dressed to the Church at Colossae. Onesimus, 
a runaway slave of Philemon in the latter place, 
having been converted under Paul's preaching 
in Rome, was sent back, perhaps in charge of 
Tychicus, to his master with an apologetic 
letter. Timothy had early joined his beloved 
teacher, and had been detained for a long 
time, probably as a witness ; but finally seems 
to have been discharged as not needed for that 
purpose, and to have been sent to Jerusalem 
as the bearer of the Epistle to the Hebrews, 
which Luke most likely employed his leisure 
hours in composing under the direction and 
authority of the apostle. Mark, too, by some 
means found his way to Rome, and perhaps 
went back with Timothy to Asia Mine by 
way of Jerusalem. Aristarchus, and possibly 
some others, remained with Paul to the last. 
The apostle's route, w r hen at length set at lib- 
erty, is largely conjectural. Tradition affirms 
that he fulfilled his purpose of visiting Spain 
(some say, even Britain), and if so he probably 
went on from Rome, as was most convenient, 
and as he had long before expressed his desire 
to do. In his letters last cited above, however, 



GAMALIEL. 139 

he indicates an immediate intention of retrac- 
ing his way to Jerusalem, and thence to the 
churches of Asia Minor. We only know that 
at some time lie returned to Macedonia by way 
of Ephesus, leaving Timothy in charge of the 
latter place, and that he visited Crete, probably 
during this trip, planting churches there, which 
he left in charge of Titus. Having spent the 
following winter at Nicopolis in Macedonia, 
he was there joined by Titus, Zenas, and Apol- 
los. Tychicus had meantime rejoined him, 
and had perhaps been sent to Crete in order to 
relieve Titus prior to the apostle's letter to the 
latter there. The last notices of Paul's travels 
show that he probably went on to Corinth once 
more, and returned byway of Troas and Mile- 
tus. He was seized during the great Neronian 
persecution as a prominent member of the pro- 
scribed Christian sect, probably soon after 
reaching Ephesus. His treatment this time 
at Rome was rigorous, his trial speedy, and his 
first hearing ominous of condemnation. Many 
of his friends forsook him, such as Demas, 
who had stood by him in his former imprison- 
ment. Others had necessarily gone to various 
fields of labor, as Crescens to Galatia, and 



140 SKETCHES OF JEWISH LIFE. 

Titus to Dalmatia. Timothy was again left 
in charge of Ephesus, and Tychicus was dis- 
patched to him with the request to hasten to 
the imprisoned apostle with Mark. Luke only 
was Paul's companion, and his lonely cell was 
cold and damp with the approach of winter. 
Onesiphorus of Ephesus had cheered him with 
substantial comforts in his dungeon, as he had 
often done at home. If the place of the apos- 
tle's incarceration were, as tradition reports, the 
old Mamertine Prison, his physical condition 
must have been doleful in the extreme. It is 
a double pit or cistern, one below the other, dark 
and accessible only by a narrow man-hole at the 
top, through which food and drink were let 
down to the inmate, if, indeed, like Jugurtha, 
he were not left to perish by starvation. A 
chain bound him to the naked stone wall ; and 
thus we may imagine the aged Paul writing by 
a wretched lamp or torch on the hard floor his 
last letter to the beloved Timothy. He had 
need, indeed, of portmanteau and parchments 
to beguile the tedious hours ! 

But he was neither sad nor complaining in his 
dungeon. The light of the other world dawned 
brightly upon his soul, and the crown of mar- 



GAMALIEL. 14 1 

tyrdom was just above his head. His words 
of triumph thrill us like the shout of a success- 
ful runner or a victor on the battle-field: "I 
have fought a good fight, I have finished my 
race ! " For years he had lived with a desire 
to depart, and now his highest hopes are about 
to be gratified. Not in brief vision only, but 
in perpetual verity, will he be with his glorified 
Lord. His spirit kindles with intrepid joy at 
the prospect of the descending ax ; he is 
" ready to be offered." From the spots where 
his severed head shall roll living springs will 
gush to commemorate him to distant times 
and peoples. The heart of the believer is 
ever young ; it is immortal. The life-drops 
may be spilled upon the earth, but they shall 
quicken again in a harvest of beauty and bless- 
edness. Sublime old man ! thy pen is a scep- 
ter and thy stone bed a throne. Thou art 
superior by divine strength to all human con- 
tingencies ; for well art thou persuaded that 
all things are thine. A momentary pang shall 
soon introduce thee to an eternity of joy. 

THE END. 



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